Cambridge Country Market

So long its been good to know you. All the Cambridge Country Markets members are very sad that today was our last day on the market. In some ways it is a little bit of a relief too, it is really hard work to fill, run and staff an out door stall, setting up at 7 am and not able to pack up until 4pm with only about 10 active members. I do wish we could have recruited a few more members who would have carried the stall on, but it just was not to be. All of the active members wi...llbe joining either (or in some cases both) Histon and Shelford Markets, so we wil still be active in this terrific organisation. Our thanks and best wishes to all our customers and our fellow stall holders, its been a pleasure to serve or work along side you all. Our last day was busy, sunny, breezy and at the end, very wet indeed! We saw a great many long term customers and finished the day with a glass of sparkling wine to toast ourselves and wish each other well.
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A lovely sunny, breezy, summer day with lots of fruit & vegetables on our stall today. We had many courgettes of various sizes, cucumbers, blackberries, apples, and three types of plums and pretty much all of it went. We also had very good craft sales after a few rather rather slow weeks for craft. We also had a visit from Daniel Ritchie, of Cambridge City Council market management team. Dan came to wish us well and do a little interview for the market newsletter. Among other... things, he asked us what we would change or improve about the market place. Both Mrs Cliff and I said covering it would be an enoromous improvement. I added that if the council had or coud find the money it woud be wonderful if an exiting, airy, modern covered market hall, designed by a great architect (Barfield Associates - London Eye perhaps) would be terrific. To make our historic market place a real destination, worthy of the centre of our wonderful city would be so good. It would still need to be affordable for the motly crew of rugged individuals who have stall sellling a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and so much more, but it coud also be used in the evening too. I wonder, I wonder, could it ever happen?
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We had a lovely day today, sunny, with a light breeze. Just about perfect market weather and a good number of people out and about in central Cambridge. Many of our regular customers are very sad to hear we are closing, but unless we get a sudden influx of new members, close we will on the last Thursday of July. Its sad and very odd to think ' well I only have to do this all twic more' as I pack the stall equipment into our shed. We will all miss the friendly market place and the characters we meet every week.

Many thanks to all or market friends who have commented on our impending closure, it is so nice of you to care and comment. I think there are many issues markets have to contend with. In Cambridge City we have a lovely market square, but we have to be there all day as access by car is restricted, its in the open air and for 50 weeks of the year, it is really cold in winter and often hot in summer. Cambridge is a remarkably dry place, but it is windy and sometimes the wind is ...bitterly cold in winter. Parking is very expensive, so if you are a producer who lives out of town you have to drive in and out morning and afternoon. The University has moved a great many departments out to the West of the city, so peole who used to drop by in their lunch hour nw are not close enough and the whole market square can be very quiet, particularly in the winter. Finding new producers is a problem too. Most younger women have to work full time, older people don't seem to want to join and setting up (particularly as a cook) is quite a business. I don't have any problem with all the food safety regulation, its there to safegaurd us all, but it can be quite daunting for a new recruit. Then you have to factor in the cost of setting up, packing, labels, jars, lids, that (expletive deleted) ruddy label programme. Add into that establishing yourself with customers, getting to know the other members and getting to grips with the committee structure, it all takes time. I do think more national publicity would be a great thing, get someone on Woman's Hour, The Food Programme, Garderners Question Time, editorial in news papers and magazines, stuff on the internet; do we for instance have any link with Mum's Net & is there a 'Grannies Net' we could link into? I understand that all our officials are volunteers and part of their own markets and as franticly busy as a person can be, but it would be so very good if we could be a bit more high profile. There are my thoughts, lets hear yours. Tessa Mitchel
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It was very hot and a bit humid today, with thunder rumbling all around though no rain fell in central Cambridge (thank goodness). It was a a good day, though many of our customers were very upset to hear our news. Sady, after sixty three years, our lovely stall will have to cease trading at the end of July! Our problem is that we just do not seem to be able to recruit new cooks. We have advertised, asked friends, been as creative in our search for new members (not just cooks...), but to no avail. Two of our stalwart (younger) members have returned to full time emplyment recently and it became evident that there just were not enough active producers to keep our weekly market going. It will be a very sad day, our last market day, but al our active members will be joining either Shelford or Histon Markets, so your favourite items will still be available if ou can get to either of those.
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Well, it's hot, hot, hot or at least it was yesterday when we were cooking! Mercifully a bit cooler this morning and we have had quite a lot of thunder and two or three spectacular, though brief, rain storms. There are penty of 'hot weather' dishes on our stall today - roast, stuffed peppers, roast vegetables, nut roast and a wide variety of quiches. All the savory food today is vegetarian (with the excepton of a few sausage rolls). There is also a range of sweet food, banana bread, cakes of various sorts, frangipane tarts, cookies, Grassmere shortbread, etc, etc. Also lovely fruit and vegetables, some flowers, honey, jams & chutneys, so come along and buy!

June 1st, the first day of summer and a market day. It is warm and sunny and we have lots of lovely produce, flowers, plants, food and crafts. Sorry about the unusual gap in posts, first I was poorly and last week I went on a short visit to Edinburgh, my nose is back to the grindstone now though. Look for regular posts from the wonderful Cambridge Market and information on what is available on our lovely Cambridge Country Market stall.

It was actually sunny yesterday and quite warm! It was also 'one of those days' a bit short staffed and very busy first thing, so not many photos. Just about the last of the rhuubarb I should think, but soon there will be gooseberries to bring to market. Lets all hope for a very productive summer in the garden.

What lovely baked goods, I wish I could make bread like that. Our sister market at Histon has these delicious things for sale every Friday morning.

Yellow roses, lilac, chives in flower and a selection of plants. Dear little cardigans with matching boots, hats, cosies for your tea or coffee pots and lovely things to eat! As people say 'whats not to like?' It was a bit chilly this morning (it is the 4th of May afer all) and we really missed Mr Mitchell, poorly with a horrible virus, but we all managed to get the stall up, dressed and staffed, so that was good. Our customers were peased to see us and all in all it was a good, though tireing day. See you all next week.

This looks interesting.

A cold morning and wet at lunch time, so a slightly disapointing market day. It has been so cold this week, as though we have stepped back into winter, hopefully next week will be warmer!
We did have some lovely flowers today, scented lilac and lovely bluebells, also plants and produce. On the baking side we had our usual selection of lovely cakes, bars and biscuits and a wide selection of savoury products including delicious stuffed, roast chicken thighs on roast vegetables.

The new bag for our market 'Windows' made by Brenda. It is three layers of fabric, reinforced corners, seams on the ouside so nothing catches and the handles are not so long that you have to be a giant to carry it! Thank you Brenda.😀

Well, lilac time is with us at last. Some beautiful bunches waiting for you to take home and enjoy today, but don't tarry, they will dissapear quickly. We have nice food, lovely cakes and biscuits and our talented biscuiteer, Mrs Chen, is back with us after a short break. We have yummy cheese straws, macaroons, gluten free and traditional cakes, come down to Cambridge Market and buy our wares.

A nice, bright day and reasonably busy. I don't know if other Country Markets find that a market just before a bank holiday weekend is very unpredictable for sales, but we do. Inevitably several people asked for Simnel Cakes ( available last week & the week before), but I hadn't had any time to make more for this week. Anyway, sales good, customers cheerful and some old friends dropped by, so a really good day in so many ways. Happy Easter to all our customers, see you next week.