For this edition of my Farmers’ Market series, I am in the beautiful town of Knaresborough. It is only a couple of stops further than Harrogate on the rattler and well worth the trip.
For those of you who have not visited this picturesque town, you are missing a treat as it has everything for a full day out. You do have to be fairly fit though as it is in two parts, the river being in a valley and the town centre at the top of a steep hill. There is a set of steps to enable you to cover both bases, or you could bottle out and nip on the bus for a couple of stops.
Sightseeing was not on the agenda today though as there was the monthly Farmers’ Market to review. It is held between the hours of 10.00am and 3.00pm on the third Saturday of each month in, you’ve guessed it, Market Place, is at the top of the hill next to the bus station. The market is a very intimate affair and, along with the one at Wetherby, has only about a dozen stalls. Again, like Wetherby it concentrates on food rather than crafts although there were two ladies selling gifts.
The first thing which struck me was the layout of the market in that the stalls were laid out round the market cross which was nice, but they all faced outwards from it. This meant that to have a look at all of the traders’ wares you have to do a full circuit of the square. Had they faced inwards it would have made a more congenial space and all of the stalls’ goods would have been on view at the same time. In the resultant grumpy old man mode I set off on my lap of dishonour.
There was the usual variation in wares with Really Indian goodies such as paneer role, onion bhajis and samosas, through Gluten Freekz with their selection of pastries for allergy sufferers and the rest of us naturally, to DoggyWoggyWooWoo.com who produce homemade pet treats. The lovely couple who run this stall assured me that none of the ingredients is only suitable for dogs. In fact they taste everything themselves. I did comment that their coats looked particularly shiny but I had put that down to excessive wear. I also suggested that they do something about their wet noses and advised them to avoid lampposts in the square.
