There is a constant pressure for more stall space at the farmers’ market, with the issue of numbers of stalls per week, when complicated by seasonal changes in producers and the various other factors it means a weekly juggling act in stall arrangement on my part. Then there are the numbers of people interested in joining the market who, when I say the waiting list has no time frame, are disappointed.

The only place we could possibly extend is down Union Street towards and alongside the Market Tavern pub, (deceased) and this is something we are currently experimenting with. During the summer we have had occasional visits from the Velo Bakery wood-fired pizza oven with limited success. The peak footfall of the market is further up the street and it has been difficult to get them noticed down there, past the organic vegetables. Anyway we are progressing to stage two of this experiment by bringing back the Crow’s Nest vegan soup and curry van, seen at the market over the years, down to that area by the empty pub. Velo Bakery will also return in a few weeks after their holiday on a weekly basis and we are hoping that the presence of these two great street food stalls will allow us to add a few extra non hot food stalls in that area too.

We will have a bit of a soft fruit hiccup this Saturday as the strawberries and raspberries from Court Farm stop to draw breath before returning for another month or so. There are early apples and lots of plums though so look out for those.

This Saturday we are lucky to have four stalls selling cut flowers! Cotswold Country Flowers have been filling in with mixed bunches and posies while Julian Harvard has been away and there are mixed bunches at Ascott Gardens and Hotch Potch Organic, all grown by them and cut fresh the day before market. This week there is a wonderful crop of dahlias at Julian Harvard’s nursery and he is having a shared stall with Ascott Gardens so they don’t go to waste.