Market manager Kardien Gerbrands talks about Swindon’s farmers’ markets

Come along to any farmers market in the county this weekend and what you will find will be the produce of our great Wiltshire countryside and adjoining counties.

Produce that is reared and raised and grown in the same climate we live in. Produced by farmers you see driving their tractors on your local roads; on fields you pass every day on your way to work.

Produce that hasn’t spent days sitting in the back of lorries or weeks in highly chilled holding warehouses but produce that has literally come from our doorsteps.

Farming is tough and food pricing is driven by world standards; our farmers do the same work year in year out but what they get for their produce on the open market is driven by how good the crop was in USA or Russia or China.

They have no control over that at all and often, as I’m sure we’ve all heard before, are forced to sell the fruits of their labours at prices below production costs.

Farmers markets provide them with the opportunity to sell direct to us their customers without being dictated to by big scale buyers and this means they can run sustainable farms, kind to the land and kind to their animals; they don’t need to use steroids to boost the size of their animals or huge amounts of powerful fertilisers and insecticides to maximise every inch of ground.

Find a farmers market near you and start enjoying a sustainable and healthy diet this weekend!

Farmers' Markets

  • Bradford on Avon, third Thursday, 9am to 1pm at Westbury Gardens, BA15 1DE
  •  Bradford on Avon, last Sunday, 10.30am to 2.30pm at Lamb Yard, BA15 1FG
  •  Calne, second Saturday, 9am to 1pm, near the library, SN11 0JU  
  •  Corsham, third Saturday, 9am to 1pm, High Street, SN13 0HB
  •  Devizes, first Saturday, 9am to 1pm, Market Place
  •  Malmesbury, second and fourth Saturdays, 9am to 1pm, Market Cross
  • l Royal Wootton Bassett, fourth Saturday, 9am to 1pm, High Street
  •  Salisbury, weekly on Wednesdays, 9am to 2pm, Poultry Cross
  •  Swindon Farmers Market, every Sunday, 10am to 4pm, Swindon Designer Outlet, Kemble Road, SN2 2DY 
  •  Havelock Square Farmers’ Market, Swindon, every Thursday from 9am until 2.30pm. 
  •  Trowbridge, second and fourth Friday, 9am to 1pm, Fore Street, BA14 8HX
  •  Wanborough, third Saturday of the month, 9am to midday, Wanborough Village Hall
  •  Warminster, first and third Fridays, 9am to 1pm, Central car park, BA12 9BT