When I lived in Paisley, the twice monthly market was a regular stop. The market is usually held on…read morethe middle and last Saturday of the month. The last Saturday if the month market does tend to be better. The market does the rounds of Paisley and Ayrshire and butchers, fruit and veg, eggs, cakes, fish and ice-cream are all available from local producers and suppliers. Produce is lovely and fresh. More exotic items such as olives and antipasti items are available too and often there are samples available. If like me you are gluten free, Petrie Fine Foods do gf cakes, clootie dumplings, choc cake and quiches (only there last Sat of the month) and it is worth ordering a christmas pudding (gf) during the festive season as it is lovely! The market has helped increase footfall into Paisley on a Saturday and is worth a visit - free parking would help too!

Southside cousin to the Mansfield Park Farmers Market this one in Queens Park does the same kind…read moreof organicy, free range, fair trade type farmer type stuff that's nice to indulge yourself in sometimes. Ok, i wont religiously head to these things and fill my re useable hessian sack to the very brim with shittake mushrooms, sea weed soaps and wild boar burgers, but hey, on the odd occasion its nice to do something a little different. Well worth a visit. Its every two weeks, alternating with its west end cousin.

What to do on Saturday morning...apart from lazing about?? Go to queens park farmers market for a…read morewander about to look at the lovely produce, fresh bread and cake stalls. The fish stall is also amazing with fab range and a friendly. So good to have somewhere like this on my door step. Can't wait to go this Saturday...especially as Harvest time!

I remember coming to the farmer's market back when I was an excited, wee student, back in t'day…read more The market back then was at its pre-recession peak, you could buy interesting potted herbs, cheese straight from the farms on Arran, there was even an honest to goodness food truck (shhh!) But *dramatic pause* the recession hit! Food trends went out the window faster than crocs & suddenly everyone was eating own label beans on stale white bread.. They were some long, lean years in the households of many a West End foodie.. Mansfield Park, all wind swept began to resemble some 80's Soviet drama, with hardened bread, greyish meat & rotting cabbage. But fear not, all's good(ish) again! Mansfield Park gas been transformed & now seems more home-baked, more multicultural & more organic than ever! In recent visits I've noticed French, Indian, Indonesian (& more) vendors, there's even a mom & pop chilli farm ho-lee shiz! There's still the meat stalls, which seem to have been there forever, selling local Venison etc, but now there's Fantoosh Fish too selling sushi & other oceany wares! Tapa now have competition from a few other stalls selling bread, cakes & other sweet treats. Tapa used to have a secret weapon (coffee) but now there's competition from from a dedicated coffee stall! What a time to be alive! Oh there's also a juice stall that's seriously good & a beer stall (yeah OK maybe it's a little early.. mibbe's no though!) Seeing as the market has several great breakfast/coffee places only a sleepy shuffle away there's no reason not to get your butts down here & check out the wonderful wares on sale at Mansfield Park! Don't be late it shuts at 2!

I love a good Farmers' Market. I knew that Falkirk had a Farmer's market and, as a local, I really…read morewanted to go, but I've been living in Falkirk for nearly a year now and hadn't done it. Why? Because it's on the first Friday of every month, between 11 am and 3 pm. So, since I work, I couldn't go. Which was very frustrating. Presumably, unless you're lucky enough to work from home, or not work, or are retired, or work in Falkirk's town centre and have time to leave the office at lunch, you've got no chance of trying this particular farmers' market. And maybe you don't care. But I did. Since I have time off at the moment I decided I would take this one opportunity and visit it. Honestly, though, I kind of hoped it was rubbish. It wasn't. It's not huge. Falkirk isn't a huge town, after all. With a medium-sized town centre and a population of 35,000, it would be surprising if the farmers' market were enormous. However, it does have all the key stalls that you'd hope to see. I got started at the Rhone Cottage stall which was selling fresh produce as well as jams, honey and cheese. Ok, so some the cheese was Arran cheddar, but the rest was produced in Ayrshire. I picked up a punnet of raspberries and an Arran cheddar with cracked black pepper. I don't have many rules in life, but one of them is that if you're selling Arran cracked black pepper cheddar, I am buying Arran cracked black cheddar pepper. I'm an addict. Next, I wandered over to the Different Breid stall. Made in Bonnybridge by Andrew Wilson, Different Breid has enjoyed a good deal of success recently, and you can find it in plenty of Glasgow restaurants these days. I chose a Walnut and honey sourdough loaf, which I was reliably informed I could freeze if I didn't think I'd eat it all (hah!) and just managed to avoid buying even more cheese. Just. I walked around the corner to The Cedar Cottage Country Foods Stall, which proudly proclaimed it was the home of The Hairy Beast Steak Pie. Tempting, but thinking about what I already have in my fridge at home, I wasn't sure when we'd get the chance to eat it. I decided to play it safe and chose a pack of their beef link sausages instead. For similar reasons I didn't buy the delicious mackerel that I sampled at the Arbroath Fisheries stand, nor their crab, mussels, or tuna, even though it all looked amazing. How much of a waste would it have been if I'd bought it and we didn't use it? However, I couldn't leave without a pot of their smoked salmon pate, so that went in my bag as well. I chose a fresh doughnut from the Donut Kiosk and happily ate it on the way home, planning a particularly delicious lunch, and having spent less than £15 on fresh, organic, seasonal, local produce that I couldn't wait to try. My only regret is that I have no idea if or when I'll be able to go back.

I'd been hearing lots of positive things about the Oven at Overton Farm. So when we were at a loose…read moreend with no desire to spend 30-45 minutes in the car with 2 hungry children we thought we'd give it a go. I'm so glad we were feeling lazy, this place is magnificent. It's a purpose built cafe/kitchen/place where waistlines come to die. It's big, light and airy and feels homey and farmhouse kitchen-y without any chintz or cockerel cliche crimes. The service was lovely; cooing over the kids, making sure we had drinks, checking everything was just the way we wanted it and generally making us feel that we were in fact sat in the farmhouse kitchen being spoiled rotten. The menu is straightforward and fuss free and the food is outstandingly good. I had the best cooked breakfast I have ever had, g was a little disappointed that his burger looked so basic but quickly got over it when he tasted it. Everything is made fresh, locally produced and in generous portions. There is a great area with toys for little people and plans afoot for an outside play area so its brilliant for kids. But even if you don't have rug rats, amazing home baking (yes it's made onsite by them I checked!), meat from Overton Farms own butchery, such warm service and beautiful views of the Clyde Valley it's well worth checking out and if anyone hates eating alone I'm happy to keep them company. I'm selfless like that!

I drop in here fairly often to pick up a few bits and pieces, usually when I'm going to the Farmers…read moreMarket which is held here on the first Saturday of the month. They stock a small range of regular grocery type items, some fruit, bread, workwear and an usually large selection of toy tractors. To me though the main attraction of the farm shop is the local produce: eggs, meat and fruit & veg. Please remember though that this is not a supermarket and you wont get some things out of season. The farm shop also takes orders for large quantities of meat and at this time of the year they take orders for turkeys and sell Christmas trees.

The Continental Market in Glasgow is a funny one, it seems to be almost exactly the same stalls…read morethat visit during the not-especially-German Christmas market. Nevertheless, I always enjoy wandering around a good selection of market stalls and you'll certainly find that on Sauchiehall Street whenever the Market comes to visit. Both the variety and the quantity of stalls here is pretty good - many of the more popular stalls are duplicated at each end of the market to cater for the high numbers of customers they expect. Probably about two thirds of the stalls available sell food; everything from traditional sweeties to churros and bratwurst to jerk chicken can be found. There's hot curry, Greek Souvlaki, Paella and stews, as well as cheeses, cured meats, jams, pickles, spices bread, pastries and cakes to take home. A bit of everything, really. The other stalls sell gifts, plants and jewellery. There's plenty of small businesses selling things like home made soaps and candles and you can expect scarves and accessories available too. My main reason to visit is usually to find something a bit different for lunch, but it's not rare that I end up picking up some interesting bread and a gift or two as well. I always take the time to visit when the market is here, I just wish that we had more like this in Glasgow.

Really love the Continental Market, I always enjoy walking around the stands, getting different…read moresmells from various kind of cuisines and looking around for typical products from different countries. During my last visit on Saturday i stopped at the Italian stand (of course!) - the guys were really friendly and chatty, they got me to taste few pastries (almond pastry was sooo good) and few kind of cheese, and at the end i got a slice of Pecorino Romano and a slice of Toma Piemontese. I have to admit price was really expensive (£13!) but where else can you find original Italian cheese over here, and most of all, at cheap prices? Nowhere! So it was a good purchase, but will save them for as long as i can LOL!

I always remember there was an international food market several times per year in Glasgow and they…read moreused to be exciting times. Many years back it was a different atmosphere compared to today's market where in the past there was more selection or variety. In recent years there has been a decline in the amount of stalls attending and the variety of items available seems to be limited. What stalls are there I won't be able to remember them all but I did notice that there was duplicates of certain food stalls selling the same product at pretty high prices. There was a lot of plants, jewellery, French bakers, bratwurst stand, freshly prepared macaroons but there where food vendors selling items that could be bought locally at more than half the price. Still these markets have a better atmosphere than our local market at the barrowlands area. It is nice to see something different in Glasgow but I would rather support local shop & business that are already struggling.

I was excited to hear about the Glasgow Food Assembly launching at Drygate and placed an order last…read moreweek to try it out. I describe it as an online farmers' market - you browse what's available online, place your order and pay, and then pop along to Drygate between 5.30-7.30pm on a Monday night to collect your goodies. As it was my first order, I didn't go too overboard - some veg and meat, and eggs. There's a bigger range than I expected actually and you can get everything from salmon to bread, goat, mutton, chorizo, herbs and more. It does vary from week to week but you can easily browse online and just pick what takes your fancy. I also liked that it's just a week-by-week commitment - you don't need to pay a fee to be a member - just order as you want stuff and then collect it on the Monday. I was a little early to collect my order but the Food Assembly was already pretty much set up. They're normally based upstairs at Drygate (last night they were outside the bottle shop) and it was so nice to meet the producers and have a chat. Picking up the order was really easy - just got my name marked off and grabbed my goodies from each person. I got smoked duck, salmon, beetroots, multi-coloured carrots and eggs - all up £19 (see photos). The only downside I would mention is that you can't buy something then and there - I would have gotten some chutney, but they don't do sales in person. You need to order in advance. But actually, that isn't such a problem and I would definitely order again - I like being able to support small, local businesses where I can and appreciate that doing it this way reduces food waste so it's a win win.