A very big thank you to “treasured” old, and the many new, customers who braved the elements to visit us at our first Silchester Village Market of the year. We didn’t run out of cake; we sold more bacon sandwiches than ever before; and we were delighted to welcome lots of ‘little people’ with their Mums and Dads.

Wyatts, our local butcher, nearly sold out. Valerie was greeted with a beaming smile when she went back to the shop; Brian Bickton from Basingstoke Beekeeper’s Association sold quantities of honey beyond his wildest expectation and will be back at the April market with fresh stocks; Jo from Great Little Bakery sold out of her organic, artisan bread in double quick time and is looking forward to getting up at 3am to do it all again for the March market; Rhona from Thyme also sold out of her home-made food and as such has asked to come back in May.

Some of our ‘grown up’ customers have already said:

• It was great with a good vibe, long may it continue.
  

  Great Little Bakery

• It was brilliant!
• The Market had a real buzz about it and to see it busy was great.
• Every stall holder I spoke too seemed really enthusiastic, which was nice.
• My first visit and I thought there was a great choice of products and friendly stallholders
• My kids loved the colour me in cookies and the fact there were Fruit Shoots on sale!
• Really liked the range of things to look at and buy
• Oops! I ran out of money!

So we now have to hold your attention and entice you back to our next Market on:

We are extending the opening time to 12.30pm as an experiment to see if it is more convenient to customers  who have lots to do on a Saturday morning and aren’t able to get to us in time to have a good look around.

NEW STALLS for March include: Ben Paul who will be selling handmade wrought iron work to include log baskets, welly racks, boot scrapers, braziers, pea stands, obelisks and rose arches. It is beautiful work and well worth a visit to view.

David Meadows, our fishmonger from Devon Fishcakes will join us for the first time with his handmade gourmet fishcakes and fresh seafood. If you like his wares, David hopes to return to future markets.

For those with pets, we are welcoming Husse who sell premium dog and cat food, accessories and pet treats.

Tony Hammond from The Cheese Agent will be happy to serve you fresh local and artisan cheeses, cut and weighed to your own specifications.

The Coffee House will return with its fresh Arabica coffee, sold freshly ground or beans; as will old favourites of our wide range of preserves, chutneys, jellies, curds and marmalades; local fresh made condiments; and local free range eggs from Bloomfield Hatch Farm, Mortimer. Final stocks of Silchester Apple Juice will be for sale, then we will have to wait until our next harvest! Wyatts will ensure they bring many more of their tasty sausages for your Sunday morning breakfast!

Diets are off the menu as we will have another well stocked cake stall with a fantastic range of home baked goodies. I am sure you’ll agree the selection of cakes was amazing, Sandi and new SVM bakers Suzi and Jane and Lisa’s cakes really went down well. The Triple Choc loaf cake in particular has received many compliments. In March we will welcome Tracey to the cake stall as she starts putting her dream of a baking business into action. We wish her every success.

For the kids, Miranda from Colour me in cookies returns with her range of Mother’s Day cookies, great fun for the kids to create; Mariana Bowtique will join us with lots of kid’s accessories to buy as well as some distinctive crochet and knitwear; Kerry’s Krafts will also have some lovely ideas for Mother’s Day presents.

Jenny will return with her beautiful botanic cards; Frances with her felt and sewn items and Denise with her hand crafted jewellery.

As ever we hope you have time enough to take a seat at our Market Café with your friends, family or neighbours, enjoy a cuppa and a bacon sandwich perhaps. Some parents asked if we could have some colouring pens and pictures for the ‘little people’ so we’ll ensure that is there for them.

Thanks once again to all who supported the Market in February. We hope you liked it enough to come back.

It just wouldn’t be the same without you.

Saturday 5th March 10.00am to 12.30pm

 

Paula Gibbons

Market Organiser

PS Don’t forget to bring us your Jam Jars for recycling!