Brockley Market

If there's anything the Brockley/Lewisham area DOES need it's a decent farmer's market, and boy did this one deliver! A wide range of produce with friendly stall holders and a real community feel.

Although the market sounded like it was going to be massive, on arrival there was a slight disappointment that it may not have delivered. It looked small. Not Hilly Fields small but small enough to stem @softlyphotos excitement for a mere second. Once you were in there however, there was a decent amount of stuff which left us wandering around for a good hour.

The stalls that particularly impressed me were the meat and game stalls which had such a variety on offer. We bought Pork and Black Pudding sausages and will be back next week for the Game Burgers. There were also Free Range eggs on offer for just £1 which undercuts the supermarkets by far-shame we had eggs in so none for us this week.

There were two cheese stalls, one of which also sold olives and other bits. We purchased from the cheese only place; Shropshire Blue and Wild Garlic Yarg have surprisingly survived the whole day in the fridge untouched. Their fate is sealed for tomorrow though...

My favourite offering, rather surprisingly, was the Wild Country Organics stall. A fruit and veg stall with a difference; it stocks a wide range of produce that you often can't find in a supermarket. I normally avoid the fruit and veg stalls (I love meat and cheese) but this had such interesting stuff that after buying the courgette flowers I was looking for, we were quickly upsold some sorrel (amazing lemony burst of flavour), mixed salad leaves and tiger tomatoes (at least I think that's what they're called). Lovely, helpful staff and a 'grazing policy' allow you to really know what you're buying and how to use it.

Brockley Honey was a lovely local touch to the market but at £5 a pot we didn't go for it on this occasion. Maybe next time as the bit we tried from the comb was gorgeous. The addition of the bees themselves was a nice touch, especially for the kids.

The one slight negative for me was the bacon sandwich from Red Herring. The bacon had a lovely smokey flavour but for me, the rind was too flabby; a crispier rind would have really improved the texture. In addition I found the bread was slightly dry and chewy and as I had wisdom tooth issues (obviously through no fault of the stall holders) I really struggled with the it. At £4 a pop I felt a bit ripped off and the stall as a whole seemed slightly overpriced (£5.50 for one delicious but small smoked duck breast!!!).

There were a few things I didn't get round to trying and will certainly be back next week and many weeks after that to get my fill. There was some amazing looking bread and the coffee queue (Dark Fluid I think it was called) went right across the market. My one worry is that the stallholders at Hilly Fields will lose all their trade but perhaps the two could join forces. I'm contemplating setting up a stall myself as this is definitely going to get bigger and better. Saturdays in Brockley will never be the same!

All photos courtesy of Softly Photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestoff/)