MARKET DAY
Great countryside, farmers’ markets and enthusiastic artisan producers makes the Ribble Valley one of the best places in the country for fine food, writes Phil Keenan
With its rolling hills, lush pastures and abundance of woodland, it’s probably not too surprising to learn that the Ribble Valley features some of the North West’s finest local produce – flavourful wild game, rich and creamy dairy products, as well as deliciously succulent meats.
With so many fabulous ingredients on our doorstep, I’m happy to say that, over the years, this has inspired a good number of passionate local producers into action, who have then gone on to create and perfect some pretty irresistible foods for us to enjoy, and these often make it onto the stalls at many of our local farmers markets. This could be in the form of big chunks of beef in a delicious, deep-filled pie or as the filling in a big, fat, succulent banger, or maybe just as simple but incredibly good raw ingredients, ready for you to take home and transform it into the finished dish.
The small markets in and around the Ribble Valley have a great atmosphere, with many of the stallholders meeting up week after week. You’ll see them trading almost as much banter as they do produce. There’s a great variety of foods for you to choose from too – from artisan bakers to home produced jams and chutneys, wild game dealers to sticky toffee puddings, tasty ethnic foods to the humble British banger, not forgetting some pretty irresistible cakes, plus lots more besides.
You’ll find a good number of these markets taking place in and around the Ribble Valley, most of them listed here, and each one happens generally just once a month, featuring anything up to 20 or so stalls.
Local markets you could look out for are Great Harwood (first Sunday), Helmshore (first Sunday), Padiham (second Sunday), Colne (third Saturday), Grimsargh (third Saturday), Hoghton Tower (third Sunday), Whalley (third Sunday), Cuerden Valley (fourth Sunday).
You’ll find a useful guide to these and other regular markets around the North West on our website: www.bitelocal.co.uk/events
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