A fresh way of attracting custom (From Stroud News and Journal)

A fresh way of attracting custom

RETAILERS in Stroud take between 10 and 14 per cent more when the Farmers Market is in town and up to 10,000 more people visit Stroud on that day according to market organiser Clare Gerbrands.

Speaking at the launch of Gloucestershire Food Links on Monday she said there was no better time to get behind the county's food producers.

Mrs Gerbrands got involved in Gloucestershire Food Links, a network of county farmers' market producers earlier in the year but the project was put on hold when the foot and mouth crisis struck.

A conservative estimated annual income of farmers' markets nationwide is £35 million and Stroud is reckoned to be one of the best in the country.

But while many Five Valleys folk are familiar with the hugely successful farmer's market in Cornhill, there are now other markets running in Tetbury, Cirencester, Dursley, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Coleford.

All the producers sell their own product direct to the customer, allowing the buyer to find out exactly how it has been produced.

On Saturday, American farmer's market guru Nina Planck gave a cooking demonstration with local produce and signed copies of her new book.

A new leaflet, Fall in Love With Local Food, details all the markets in Gloucestershire, of which there are now nine each month.

Many of the producers visit more than one market.

And a website, www.gafm.org is being developed in to a directory of local producers and for now it carries all details of the markets and some delicious recipes from celebrity chef Robert Rees who gives entertaining demonstrations at most of the markets.

Gloucestershire County Council is using the markets as a selling point to foreign tourists keen to sample a flavour of the county.

The next Stroud farmers' market is on Saturday, September 15 - for details of other county markets, log on to www.gafm.org