It wasn't quite in tune with Farmhouse Breakfast Week (Jan 20-26) but it reached more people than the average farmhouse and communicated with them very well. It was arranged by the Norfolk Branch of the Womens Food and Farming Union (WFU) and took place at last Saturday's Farmer's Market at Ellough, near Beccles.
As the husband of one of the WFU members I was asked along to provide moral support. But as we approached the venue, through miles of open country, I asked my wife "Where on earth are you taking me?" It seemed a most unlikely place to hold a market. But as we drew closer the number of cars made it clear that here was a hive of activity.
The market is held in an old helecopter hanger, built when there was much more aerial activity on North Sea oil rigs. The business closed down several years ago and was taken over by a local farmer who lets it and generous parking space to the Farmer's Market for its twice monthly events. It is organised by local WFU member, Margaret Hall, who started it from scratch eight years ago. It normally attracts between 30 and 40 stalls, the majority of which sell a wide variety of locally produced food together with a handful of craft stalls.
The place was buzzing with activity. Local people, anxious to obtain supplies before the stalls emptied, were feverishly selecting the fruit and veg and meat and whatever they wanted. Stall holders were continuously busy. "How many customers do you normally get" I asked Margaret who was busy selling beef from the Sotterly Hall Estate where her husband is a tenant. "It varies, obviously", she said, "and we don't count them regularly. But a few weeks ago on a typical Saturday we counted 750 cars and with an average of two per car that makes 1,500."
Whether there were that number last Saturday I don't know. It was certainly busy and there might have been more. But most who were there ended their visit at the refreshment stall, manned (or should that be womaned) by WFU members this time. They were handing out free bacon and egg baps as part of the HGCA promotion and much appreciated they were too.
Did the promotion secure more customers for home grown produce for the future? I can't say. Were the markets customers the kind of people who would have bought locally produced food in any case? Most of them, probably. Was the exercise worthwhile? Well, yes, I think it was. Because it maintains the momentum of demonstrating to customers that home produced is best. It will have solidified the support of those who always favour farmers markets and introduced that quality to some who might have been there for the first time. It re-connected a few more consumers to farmers. So, well done the WFU and the HGCA.