Wednesday 11th February 2015

Well well, how delightful, this year’s Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday and down at the farmers’ market we are all getting ready for a big foodie love-in by getting out the bunting.

Stallholders have been challenged to make their stalls look sumptuous for the occasion with bunting being the minimum requirement and buskers have been invited to play love songs all day. It has been said that Local food shopping is shopping with love. A quote I read recently said “I know you can’t buy love but you can buy local and that’s nearly the same!”

There will be plenty on offer to woo your loved one too! Pick up delicious puddings from Cotswold Puddings, with Jess Ladies’ cream of course, for a steamy end to your Valentine’s dinner, or special Valentine’s gifts including stunning dried flower arrangements, ceramics from Dan Hides, Ascott Gardens and Ann Sohn-Rethel, or his and hers belts from NG Leather. Stock up on warming pies and comfort foods like Fair Square brownies or Pippin doughnuts and all your Valentine’s dinner ingredients including fresh locally reared meats and vegetables, perfect for a slow cooked stew. There will be local wines, ciders and beers too, including Newtown Wines’ superb Bubbly and Days Cottage Perry.

Of course Valentine’s Day is about romantic love but at the farmers market we like to embrace the more universal concepts of love such as love thy neighbour and love nature which creates an atmosphere conducive to a whole host of pleasurable activities such as chatting, eating, standing around smiling, buying some veg etc.

It looks like it is going to be the biggest market of the year so far with all the second Saturday regulars and some other interesting stalls; new stall Leafy Foods are bringing kale crisps; local CIC Down to Earth will have fruit trees for sale; Kin Juicery will have a wide range of fruit and vegetable juices and Chia energy balls!