Market research part 3 - Lewes Farmers Market

Last Saturday was another sunny Saturday in Sussex and Melissa and I were up nice and early to visit the monthly market in nearby Lewes.  We parked up and took the short stroll down the lovely high street to the bottom of the hill where the market is held.  Once you hit the middle of the street the market is really buzzing - plenty of locals all eager to find some interesting local produce.  And there's some really good stuff here.  From pots of living herbs to the furriest goats cheese I've ever seen there's a really vibrant range of stalls and goods to buy.  There are a few bakery stalls selling different kinds of cakes and breads but I think if we can give our sweet treats a bit of a twist there could definitely be room for a us to have a successful stall.
So now that we're peachy keen to sign up I hope that they reply to my requests for an application form soon!

A couple of minor setbacks

Inspired by our trips to Brighton Street Market and Brighton Farm Market at the weekend I decided to email them both along with nearby Lewes Farmers' Market to see about joining as a stallholder.  I've already started planning how the stall would look, which material to use in the homemade bunting to hang around the table and was getting really excited as this would be the first step in making our bakery dream a reality. 

I had a very nice email back from John, the organiser of Brighton Farm Market, but unfortunately they are completely full although he has put my details on the waiting list and will be in touch when they have some availability.  He had gone to the trouble of reading my blog and also gave some advice about ensuring we have a good mix of traditional favourites and also some more unusual seasonal cakes.  So while it's disappointing not to be able to get into the market just yet, it's good to know that our plan was going in the right direction and we're now firmly on the waiting list.

Then two days later I had a reply from Brighton Street Market to say that there are no vacancies there either and they already have 5 stalls selling brownies and muffins.  Oh dear.

There's still hope though - the lady at Lewes Farmers' Market is going to send me an applicaiton form (I need to chase her up on it though as it's been a couple of days!) and I know there are plenty more markets in Sussex that we can try.  In the meantime we'll just have to spend lots more time recipe testing!