Now the market comes to you (From Swindon Advertiser)

Now the market comes to you

8:00pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Local By Matthew Edwards

Lorraine Stanton of Vowley Farm

THE Old Town market may have ended but a new website to set to help bring the market to your door.

Rosemary Tuck and Lorraine Stanton had been serving the local community with fresh foods for the last six years in Godwin Court on the last Friday of every month.

But in December, Rosemary retired and a fall in customer numbers meant that it was not viable to hold the market any more.

Despite this Lorraine, of Vowley farm, has come up with a way of ensuring that people in Swindon can still get locally produced products delivered to their door.

A local food hub is being developed at Vowley Farm which is due to be launched in March, where they are bringing together produce from local farmers and sourcing other items from ethical or organic producers – to offer customers a service where they can order anything they might want for their weekly household shop.

Lorraine said: “The end of the market all happened a bit abruptly.

“We started that market six years ago with the Old Town business association.

“It started out with 14 stalls and was a really good market but some of the stall owners had travelled from afar and as footfall dropped, they just couldn’t stay.

“Last year Rosemary retired which left just myself doing the market, which I couldn’t keep up.

“It was really hard to let go of the market we had a very dedicated group of individuals who supported us.

“We have had the opportunity to talk with most of our regulars and apologise to those we have not had chance to talk with.

“With this website we hope will be fully up and running by March, and we will be able to offer people locally sourced produce that they would normally find in a farmers’ market.

“We are hoping to be able to provide everything people would normally get weekly.

“We already have two or three deliveries we do in Old Town and we are hoping to get a lot more people involved.”

If anyone would like produce from either Rosemary or Vowley Farm, they are offering a free delivery service in and around Swindon, including Old Town, every Friday evening between 6-8pm.

Details can be found on their website www.vowleyfarm.co.uk.