The Dorothy Clive Garden Farmers' Market

 

We had a very enjoyable day on Sunday at the Dorothy Clive Garden Farmers' Market.  I'd not visited the gardens for about 20 years and had forgotten how nice they are.

This blog thinks most food from Shropshire is bound to taste good and The Little Round Cake Company:

from Shrewsbury make great cakes and stunning meringues:

We then visited the Jammy Cow:

I'm still not clear how Lynn got that name, but we spent a long time chatting and the longer we stayed the harder it got to choose!  They've got a good range of chilli preserves:

Predictably it's usually men that go for the hotter varieties!

Ye Olde Traditional Pie 'n' Pudding stall:

had a fine selection of pies:

including squirrel ("eat a grey and save a red") and Pézenas pies:

(read my post on Market Drayton if you don't know what these are. 

I enjoyed my chat with this lady:

who was from the Victorian Farm Food Company at which is based at Rowe Farm at Condover.

Apparently, in the past you could tell where butter came from by the markings on the butter pats:

Next stop was Adderley Wharf Farm Shop:

which is on the beautiful Shropshire Union canal.  They sell free range eggs, chick, pork and lamb, and their own home-made sausages and dry cured bacon. I'm looking forward to visiting the farm soon.

Shrewsbury Bakehouse:

were up at 3:00am making their fantastic bread, so I bought one of their seed loaves

to have with my Victorian butter.

Staffordshire Savoury eggs:

were selling their Staffordshire savoury eggs, which are hand made in the Staffordshire Moorlands, and the Local Tart Company were selling their tarts.

Baa Hill Farm Shop:

have already been featured in this blog, and were cooking samples of their amazing sausages:

We'd not come across Gregorys Food before:

The helpful girl on their stand explained that all their food is suitable for vegetarians and that they only use vegetables and cheeses which are locally sourced from Shropshire micro and small businesses.  We bought and enjoyed their Red Lentil, Lemon and Thyme soup.

Next door was Staffordshire Organic Cheese:

and to go with your cheese, next door to them were pickles from the Kitchens Fine Food Company:

We also enjoyed looking around the gardens

the daffodils were still out:

and I think the gardens will look even more spectacular in the next few weeks.

We had a great day out (there was also a very talented 14 year old singer Lydia O'Dowd) and would recommend this market.  I'm not sure when the next one will be, but I'll put it on Twitter when I know.

The Dorothy Clive Garden
Willoughbridge
Market Drayton
Shropshire
TF9 4EU

Tel: 01630 647237

Web: www.dorothyclivegarden.co.uk