Horsmonden Farmers’ Market was the brain child of three women who believed that a well run Farmers’ Market could be just the thing to revitalise a community while offering fair returns for producers and healthy local food for all at reasonable prices. After almost three years of operation, its founders, Liz Taylor, Pippa Ankjaer and Mary Moffat believed they have proved their point.
“We’ve really achieved what we set out to do,” says Liz Taylor. “Horsmonden Farmers’ Market gives local farmers a great opportunity to sell their produce without having to send it miles away to a supermarket that’s cut the price to the bone. That means it helps to preserve the traditional Kent countryside and improve the quality of life of everyone who lives in the county. It gives local people a chance to buy high quality local food at reasonable prices and it has helped bring more life into the community. It has even helped the local shopkeepers, some of whom were rather sceptical at first. They’re getting more people spending money in their shops, because the market is encouraging more people to do their shopping in the village.”
The three women developed the farmers’ market plan as a potential answer to a number of concerns. “I started off by thinking about food miles,” says Liz Taylor. “It just seems ridiculous that we live in the middle of some of the most productive agriculture in the world and yet so much of our food comes from miles away. We’d ended up with a situation in which farmers could not get a decent return and local people could not buy local food anywhere.”
“Too many of Kent’s villages had ended up turning into ghost towns as their shops closed,” she says. “Without shops they are little more than commuter dormitories, with no chance for those without transport, especially many older people, to buy food.”
Liz joined with Pippa Ankjaer and Mary Moffat. Pippa wanted to make sure everyone would have access to better quality food. “I prefer if at all possible to be able to feed my family with the produce from local farms,” she says. “It was becoming clear that the only way to be sure of that was for us to set up a Farmers’ Market ourselves.” Mary, whose background was in marketing, was keen to do something positive for her local community whilst putting her marketing skills to good use.
Their research began with visits to other farmers' markets in the area. “We chatted to stallholders and to managers,” Liz explained. “We asked the stallholders what days they might be available to come to Horsmonden as we did not want to clash with the other markets.”
The aim of the market all along has been to present a complete alternative for your shopping. “The idea is that you can feed your family from Horsmonden Farmers’ Market,” says Liz Taylor. “We’ve got the whole range, bread, meat, poultry, eggs, fruit and vegetables. We’ve got juice and organic products, pies and pastries, soups and cheeses. There’s even fish, caught not far away in the English Channel.”
The market has continued to be held fortnightly on a Friday morning, running from 9 am to 12 noon. In the summer the market is held on the village green; in the winter in the Village Hall.
The market is also doing its job in bringing more life into the local community. “You can sit and have tea and cake and a chat,” she says. “It brings people together.” The group have encouraged more local people in with a series of special events. “For example we had a special crafts event in August which brought in the crowds,” she says. “Rural crafts like willow weaving, trug making, flower arranging, weaving with alpaca wool and making hazel hurdles are an important part of life in Kent and it was great for children, in particular, to get a chance to see them and in many cases try them out,” she says.
The local school has been involved in many of the market’s activities. In May children from the primary school helped the market celebrate its second birthday. “We invited all 190 children onto the village green to take part,” says Liz Taylor. “Everyone got a pumpkin seed to take away and grow at home, ready for a competition in the autumn.”
“It was a great chance for us to encourage the children and their parents to think about local food,” she says. Earlier in the year, the market helped Horsmonden Primary School to run a farmhouse breakfast as part of an annual event promoted by the South East Food and Farming Group. “Horsmonden Farmers’ Market is all about putting back a sense of community,” says Liz Taylor. “In a county where many people have moved in from outside and even more live well away from where they were brought up, it’s great for children to understand the traditions and strengths of their area.”
Liz Taylor believes that the farmers’ market captures the economic spirit of the times. “There may not be the deep cuts on a few items that you get from supermarkets trying to grab headlines, but everything you can buy here is good value,” she says. “You don’t have to pay for it to be driven round the country on a supermarket lorry and you don’t have to pay for a car, road tax and petrol to buy it. It’s green and it’s good value.”
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