Steve Garrett on Cardiff's Castle Quarter Farmers' Market

Steve Garrett is quietly confident that Cardiff’s weekly Castle Quarter Farmers’ Market will carry on after its initial 12-week trial period. Steve is the founding director and special projects manager of the Riverside Community Market Association (RCMA), which runs the market. “The trial so far has been a real success - in spite of some very rainy Thursdays,” he says.

Today’s sunshine certainly suited the outdoor street market much more than last week’s rain. A guitarist entertained shoppers with some appropriate tunes (“parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”) and more people were stopping to sample the cooked foods on offer. “Customers have said that the top of the High Street on Market Day is like a 'piazza' - with the Castle as a backdrop and a lovely buzz of people and smells from all the stalls,” relates Steve, “This is just what we wanted to achieve”.

This particular Farmer’s Market has a good range of cooked food for customers to eat, as well as plenty of breads and cakes to take home. In addition to last week’s stalls (see last week's post), this week saw the return of The Parsnipship, selling an interesting range of pies and breads made in flowerpots, and there was a first-time appearance for Hungry Planet, selling artisan sourdough loaves.

Steve stressed that “local businesses are mostly happy with the new footfall that the Market is drawing to the area, and the Central Market is benefiting from a guest stall that we offer one of their traders each week to help promote them as well”.

“All the indications are that the Castle Quarter Farmers’ Market will continue on after the trial period” says Steve, “and we have some exciting Xmas food market plans for the location later this year as well.”

Previous post on the Castle Quarter Farmers’ Market:
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.com/2011/09/castle-quarter-farmers-market-cardiff.html