CAPEL-LE-FERNE FARMERS MARKET
Tel: Jenny or Cherry on 07899 082356
or e mail capelfarmersmarket@yahoo.co.uk
SUPPORT OUR LOCAL FARMERS and PRODUCERS
BEST FARMERS MARKET IN KENT,
in the Kent Life Magazine Food & Drinks Awards 2004
Winner of Kent Technology & Enterprise Award 2004
We are holding an Easter Special on Tuesday 18th March where baby animals will be there for the children to see, and all stallholders and organisers should be wearing Easter Bonnets. There will also be an Easter Bonnet Parade by the Playgroup, and a Decorated Easter Egg Competition for Capel Primary School pupils (the school are holding a competition for the whole school and the winning 2 from each class will be coming along to the market to find the overall winner).
There will also be Easter Eggs to be found by the children, hidden by the stallholders on their stalls.
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Visit our new stalls:
Cheese, Italian & Asian Specialities, Jams, Pickles & Chutneys, Seasonal Treats all locally made in Kent, come and support our local producers. We now have an average of 20 stalls each week with a few extra at our Christmas Special. See our Diary of Events below.
Started in April 2003 as a new venture, this market is held
every Tuesday from
10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
in the Village Hall, Lancaster Avenue CT18 7LX
The market was an idea put forward by the Village Hall Management Committee
to provide three main objectives:-
1. a service for our community;
2. support local farmers/producers;
3. raise funds for our village hall.
We have so far achieved this aim and long may it continue.
We try to provide all the basic necessities, and more, for our community along with the knowledge that it is all locally produced in Kent, and is good quality at a fair price. We are a non-profit making charity and every penny we raise from these markets goes back into the maintenance of our village hall.
We have been very successful and have been voted
BEST FARMERS MARKET IN KENT,
by the Kent Life Magazine Food & Drinks Awards 2004. and won the Kent Technology & Enterprise Award for 2004. We are 
naturally thrilled with thiese awards. We have even been asked for advice on how to start up a market by several other villages & towns in Kent due to our success! We shall have to start charging a consultancy fee !!!!!!!! We have also been asked to do a presentation at County Hall, Maidstone for the Farmers Market Conference, and most recently at the Village Halls Conference at Ditton, near Maidstone.
A few of the stallholders do not attend every week, but fortnightly or monthly. We are presently on the lookout for different foods such as dairy products, desserts,
salad dressings/sauces, pasta, cordials etc. in fact any product we do not have! We have just one stall providing a particular product so as to give customers a variety of choice, and with lack of space, we do not have room for duplication of stalls. (Please see list of Stallholders ).
If you are a local producer of a product not listed, and would like to come to our market, please do not hesitate to contact us. We do insist on Public Liability Insurance and also Health & Hygiene certificates where necessary.
Farmers Markets are on the increase, as healthy eating is being promoted in so many ways. We encourage, with the assistance of the headmaster, our local school children to come along and try the fresh produce and learn their weighing skills with help from the stallholders - which is great for the community too. See www.sustainablefoods.com for more information
on healthy foods.
We also provide refreshments, so many of our customers come along to do their shopping and meet their friends,
have a coffee and chat – it is a great meeting place!
‘Special’ markets are held regularly i.e. Easter, Harvest, Christmas and our Anniversary where we try to have
something special going on.
We have registered with Kentish Fairs and have the support of KCC Rural Revival and producers and farmers in Kent
(www.producedinkent.co.uk) in conjunction with SEEDA and Kent Rural Regeneration.
We were also thrilled to have had a television crew filming our village hall post office, community recreation project and farmers market for the BBC programme ‘Countryfile’ which was screened in October 2003, The Post Office was attached to the hall which provided another service for the community whilst doing their shopping. This was unfortunately closed on 10th January due to the Post Office cuts. We were also featured on BBC Radio Kent in May 2005 when June Care cooked a meal live on air, using produce from our stallholders. We were also featured on BBC Radio Kent AGAIN (!) which was recorded in July 2005 for the Afternoon Show! Also on 16th October 2007 which was the anniversary of the 1987 Hurricane, many villagers gave their recollections of events that day. We are also to be featured on Channel 4 at the market, but for a more unfortunate reason, the possible closure of our Post Office. The BBC have also recorded an episode of 'Street Doctor' at the market, to be viewed in the autumn of 2008!
We were also featured in many magazines including BBC Radio Kent Magazine autumn issue 2005, and in an article in the Country Kitchen
magazine (see below).
For any further information regarding the Farmers Market, please contact Mrs Jenny Barraclough 07899 082356
or e-mail capelfarmersmarket@yahoo.co.uk
Country Kitchen Magazine Article
Farmer’ Markets
Kent's Best
Farmers' markets come in all shapes and sizes, from huge city markets like Borough in London to smaller village markets. We visited a small local market in Capel-Ie-Ferne near Folkestone, which was voted 'Best Farmers' Market in Kent', in a Kent Life survey.
It's a small market held in the village hall. Don't go there and expect to be wowed by rows upon rows of produce, or you are likely to be somewhat under-whelmed. However, on our visit, we still found we could buy free-range eggs, pure-breed eggs, duck and goose eggs.
The 'egg man' had also brought in some laying hens for the children to see (and some rabbits and baby goats). There was a huge range of breads available and a wide selection of cheeses, meats, pies, pasties and cakes. On one stall you could buy around 70 different types of mustard, on another more than 40 different traditional and interesting jams. Then there was the Kentish wine and beer.
From this village hall you could come away with nearly everything you need for your everyday meal or for a special occasion. You would be unlikely to find half the level of choice for some of the produce available here, in a 25,OOOsqft supermarket.
The nature of farmers' markets makes them a perfect outlet for specialised local produce like wild boar sausages, bison burgers, ostrich steak, buffalo cheese and smoked eel.
Most farmers' markets are held weekly or monthly, with the larger ones held twice a week. If you haven't been yet, take a look at our directory (see pages 36-39) to find your nearest market and get yourself down there to check it out!
DIARY OF EVENTS
February 12th Valentines Day 19th Pancake Race March 11th BBC Street Doctor 18th Easter Special April 22nd 5th Anniversary Celebrations October 28th Halloween & Pumpkin Competition November December Christmas Special