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FARMER'S MARKETS

As Chris is a full-time teacher, we can only manage two weekends a month (Delia thinks he deserves some time off after all!). In the true spirit of Farmer's Markets, we do only the two most local to our home in Ledbury. You'll find us here every month, rain or shine:

1st Saturday of the Month: Hereford Farmer's Market (High Town, Hereford, HR1 2AA)

3rd Saturday of the Month: Great Malvern Farmer's Market (near the beautiful Abbey, near the Post Office and the Great Malvern Deli, WR14 3ES)

It is our policy to offer at least five products on free taster at every single farmer's market, so please do come along and try for yourself. This way, if you see our products in your local delicatessen, farm shop or other discerning retailer, you will have the confidence to buy knowing you like it!

You can also buy our products online from our shop: www.tastethegoodlife.net.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FARMER'S MARKETS (as we see it)

Farmer's Markets are very important, extremely well regulated and a great way to support your local producers. We love the chance to meet our customers in person. Although some farmer's markets in other parts of the country have received bad press, in our experience it is not justified. Please, please support your local farmer's market.

Did you know they can be cheaper than the supermarket? The perception of farmer's markets can be overpriced etc etc etc. so we'd like to set the record straight. Whilst it is certain that you will pay more for some items than mass-produced items (how could you possibly compare a hand-made product, with it's inherent high labour cost, with a mechanised, industrialised one?) you will almost certainly find them better quality, more natural and better value for money.

This is because you are buying direct from the producer, with the added benefit of being able to discuss the production method and quiz them on local sourcing policies as well as asking the experts for their recommendations of use. If you visit our stand, you can also taste our products free-of-charge and take away free recipe leaflets and postcards.

The result of this is quite powerful - if you don't like what you hear from the producers, you have the choice not to buy from them. Also, check your Farmer's Market is FARMA Accredited - they make sure that the organisers do what they are supposed to do to ensure the producers are what they say they are.

With all these benefits, it may surprise you to know that it isn't necessarily more expensive to buy through a farmers market!

With the credit crunch biting, some members of Hereford Farmer's Market decided to beat the supermarkets at their own game and did a price check. Do you know what they found? That not only was their product a premium product, with animals reared in traditional ways etc etc, but that THEY WERE ACTUALLY CHEAPER THAN THE SUPERMARKET!

Yes, you did hear that correctly. They were actually cheaper than the supermarket.

With our own product, you will pay more than the price of the cheapest, most industrialised product from the supermarket. However, not only are they natural but they are packed full of flavour - not emulsifiers, thickener's or anything else not totally necessary and relevant to TASTE. This means that you do not need to use as much as the mass-produced product and have the added benefit of multiple uses in cooking. This means three things:

1. that you are more likely to actually use it than put it at the back of a cupboard and forget about it until it's way past it's best before date (less waste)

2. the total cost you pay may end up being the same as the mass-produced product as you use less in the long run.

3. that the meals you prepare using our products will taste far superior - gourmet food at reasonable prices

For example, if you decided you wanted to ditch the ready-meals and bought a jar of our Connoisseur's Mustard, it would cost you £3.00. As it also makes a wonderful Chicken Dijonnaise (one jar will cook approximate 6-12 meals, depending on taste, for 4 people) at a cost of approximately 12p per person per meal. With the additional raw materials, that works out about £2.50 per serving (with a free-range chicken breast) including vegetables. We think this is pretty good value and, let's face it, it just wouldn't taste the same with a cheap, mass-produced mustard.

If in doubt, contact the organiser of your local farmer's market and talk to them - they are very approachable.