Country Mouse on farmers' markets
Mark has a fulfilling day as a stallholder at his local farmers' market.


After two years of waiting, I finally got the nod and was allowed to sell Tunworth, our delicious cheese, at Winchester's farmer's market. After all the hard work that had gone into perfecting it, my wife, Stacey, and her partner Julie were clearly reluctant to let a buffoon such as me loose with their precious commodity, but the combination of a Pony Club event and a goddaughter's confirmation meant that no one else was available.
The list of instructions and orders would have exceeded those of most military campaigns, but in the end, it was pretty easy: I provided a tasting and the cheese sold itself. The banter with the regular customers, who consider it 'their' cheese was fantastic, but don't, as I did, get carried away and offer a 'regulars' a plastic bag it's considered the ultimate insult. The other stall holders all help each other out, and many of them took the trouble to come over and tell me that 'by now, the girls had normally sold out'. In the end, I did, too.
It was a wonderful experience: local people buying local food. If you're worried about food miles, go to your farmer's market. It really is miles better than a supermarket.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
Everything you need to know about private jet travel and 10 rules to fly by
Despite the monetary and environmental cost, the UK can now claim to be the private jet capital of Europe.
By Simon Mills
-
'I'd willingly give a year of my life for a fortnight there': The green dream that is the garden of Derreen
Exotic woods, labyrinths of narrow, mossy paths and thousands of tree ferns make this an internationally important garden, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
By Charles Quest-Ritson