Readers of my Other Stuff blog will already know that I love Sugnall Hall Walled Garden, and when I heard they were starting to have Farmers' Markets I had to be there at the first one!
The Farmers' Market is next door to the recently restored wall garden:
which was originally built in the 1730s.
There was a good range of stalls when I visited:
and the organisers tell me there will be even more next time.
It's a friendly market, with lots of stalls offering samples, like the sausages and bacon from Rushey Hey Farm:
Here they rear Gloucester Old Spot pigs, which are reared naturally outside.
If you don't eat meat (or are wanting to cut down your meat consumption) there was a stall selling Bernadette McCarthy's nut roasts:
We enjoyed the samples:
and had to buy!
The Pie Life were selling their luxury pies:
hand-made in the Goldhurst Farm Bakery.
I'd already come across the Local Tart Company:
at Stafford Farmers' Market, they sell great flavours like home made pesto, roast butternut squash, with red and green pepper and mozzarella on puff pastry!
Next door to them were Staffordshire Savoury Eggs:
If your experience of Scotch Eggs is only from party food bought in freezer centres, try one of these vastly superior products. They're hand-made with free-range eggs, and flavours include their original, a red pepper and chilli, and duck eggs wrapped in Black Forest ham.
Staying with eggs, Janet's Free-Range Eggs:
are considerably cheaper than my local supermarket.
I was please to see a former Reaseheath student selling Mr Moyden's cheese:
Above is their Newport variety and below is their Wrekin Blue variety:
They also sell an oak smoked variety.
If you wanted some pickles to go with the cheese, you didn't have to walk far to get to Mikes Homemade:
made 6 miles away in Woodseaves.
Next door to Mike's Homemade was Cop Cuisine:
who make handmade authentic Indian curry sauces and accompaniments in Mow Cop (hence the name).
For those with a sweet tooth there were several stands selling nice cupcakes:
and the Chocolate Tailor sold fun, tasty and unusual items:
and if you haven't got a sweet tooth you could buy a set here:
Not all the stands sold food. A Farmer's Daughter sold unusual gifts which will appeal to the farming community:
Lymestone Brewery, who are based in nearby Stone, use the name of the town for inspiration for their beer names:
After a sip of Rolling Stone and Stone the Crows I was a convert, they make good and very different beers.
The Farmers' Market even had it's own beer barn:
where you could buy ale from Joules Brewery in Market Drayton and Cheshire cider from Eddisbury Fruit Farm.
I've left my favourite stall till last, the one selling produce from Sugnall Walled Garden:
There was seasonal and unusual vegetables like kohlrabi, and beans in three different colours:
and a scone with their own strawberry jam:
The next one is on Sunday - it's easy to remember it's Sugnall Second Sunday!
Sugnall Walled Garden
Sugnall
Stafford
ST21 6NF
Tel: 01785 850820
Web: www.sugnall.co.uk/farmers.html
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