One of the downsides of watching a little too much River Cottage UK and similar shows is that we are forever searching for a true country market that replicates the English style markets. They look awesome with a plethora of produce, food tastings and craft ready to discover. We came close when we headed to Rouse Hill for the Autumn Harvest, but it won’t be returning until next year.
I’m not sure where he heard about it, but T discovered that the Cobbitty Village Markets runs on the 1st Saturday of each month (except January and February) the very day before the July market. He was keen to go and even roped one of his best mates and his family to come along too. It has been running since 1982, so we were a little late to the party – but better late than never – right?
We agreed to meet at 10.30 am at the Cobbitty Village Market itself. It took just over and hour to get there from the inner west – thankfully Saturday morning traffic was sparse on the M5! The town was already brimming with traffic, with parking on both sides of the street already full. We had luck on our side with plentiful parking available in the local primary school oval (which is also the host of the market!).
Arriving earlier than our friends did leave us with a good 30 minutes to look around before their arrival. The kids have a radar for rides and within minutes we found ourselves at the quad bikes. We waited in line and before long it was the kids turn. 10 minutes a ride was more than generous!
With our friends arriving just as the ride finished, we headed to the market stalls to investigate the produce. Honey, fresh vegetables, Tasmanian salmon, fudge, biscuits, sauces, chutney, beef jerky….my gosh, there was so much.
We stopped at the produce stand to check out the various potato varieties. Of course I didn’t walk away empty handed, purchasing kipfler potatoes, blueberries, raspberries, a giant leek (double the size of a normal leek!), and silver beet. Master R veered towards the honey stand and we soon found our bags weighed down with cream honey and yellow box honey. T found beef jerky and Miss N, chocolate freckles.
And then there was the craft. The kids loved the dollhouses. Even Master R found them fascinating and all 4 of the children spent about 15 minutes investigating the houses, looking at the tiny furniture and chatting about the renovations they would make to the NEW houses!
Pottery, original artwork, knitwear, handmade candles, the list goes on. It was all so interesting. There was even a nursery.
Our last stop was the animal farm where the kids fed the donkey’s and sheep, held rabbits and chicks and generally enjoyed being with the animals as us adults watched them while listening to the live music.
The Cobbitty Markets are very different to those we see on River Cottage or even to the Rouse Hill Autumn Harvest. It is quite big with over 100 stalls in all. Everyone is quite friendly and the atmosphere is warm. A great market to visit on a lazy Saturday. Cobbitty Markets are held in the grounds of Cobbitty Public School, Cobbitty Road, Cobbitty.
