I have been on a month long vacation to the UK to visit family. It was such a great time and the weather was absolutely gorgeous for October/November. I travelled to Devon, London, Surrey, the south east coast, Sussex and Kent. What beautiful country side England has. You forget to take it all in when you live there and it was nice to see it through new eyes while showing my husband around.

Of course I had to take in a few markets when I could. London is full of them of course. Called ‘lanes’ you can find one them all over London. I managed to get to Petticoat Lane of which only a quarter of it was open, I guess they are only full on a Saturday when they have the farmers there as well. All I managed to see was some a lot of clothing that was of dubious origin with missing labels and dodgy looking vendors who would sell you anything at any price! Covent Garden though was buzzing and the farmers market that is held in the old ‘Apple Market’ area of the Garden was busy with arts and crafts and of course the fruit and veg. Many other villages around the south of England are still holding small Farmers Markets regularly. some on high streets and most in church halls when the weather is iffy, (there are a lot of churches in England), all run by local volunteers and there is never a pot of tea far away!

We took a day trip into France on the Chunnel. As I was staying in East Sussex near the coast it was easier to get a train to France than it was to get into London! We drove to a small town, just outside of Calais and found a rather large farmers market. Wow, what delicacies, cheeses and meats and breads and wonderful looking fruit and veg, some great crafts and lots of clothes. We bought a loaf of french bread and walked the market, like everyone does, eating and enjoying the freshness along with a bunch of grapes. I eat a lot of grapes and I have to say that for some reason the French grapes taste very, ‘grape like, very tasteful and sweet and juicy. Probably because theirs were not being shipped in from a far off country.

We went on our way to visit some more of the French country side and getting hungry thought we’d stop for more french food, but as it was 2.30 by this time could not find anywhere to eat. They stop serving food at 2 pm and do not open again until later for dinner and most of the smaller villages are having siestas. the French know how to do nothing very well… We ended up finding a grocery store, stocked up on more french bread, cheese, meat and a bottle of wine and had a picnic on the road side in the French Country side. Very Nice.

So if there are any bread and cheese vendors out there, come see me for a spot at the Market next season. We can go all French for a day!