Hampshire Farmers' Markets

jackie H.

Went to Odiham Friday Market last week & quite frankly I needn't have bothered. Went at 9 am because the last time I went at 11.45 & they were already packing up with only 4 traders left, must have missed the others, or so I thought. No, there are only 4 traders period. Bought some fish, fruit & veg, bread but avoided the temptation of the sweet stall. All quite expensive, but using the maxim of " you get what you pay for " wasn't that surprised, although I have to say that when all these farmers mkts started years ago they used the slogan " cut out the middle man, buy cheaper ". That's gone by-the-by now. Anyway I digress, the fruit and veg were fine as was the fish but as for the bread, we'll That's a different tale. Firstly I'd like to say I'm not normally in the habit of paying £4 for a loaf of bread but we treat ourselves a couple of times a month going to the artisan bakers in Hartley Wintney, but that's a 17 mile round trip from us. So when I saw Odiham advertising their Friday mkt with "artisan " bakers I thought I'd give it a go (7 mile round trip) . Should have stuck to just the fish & fruit & veg. I bought 2 loaves, 1 multi seed & 1 Hermitage bloomer to try different ones. Past experience has taught us not to go overboard when trying a new place for the first time because we've ended up buying a lot of rubbish so just stuck to the bread, but was very tempted by the various cakes, pies, samosas etc.....so glad I didn't give in to temptation. The "artisan " bread at £4 a loaf was, unquestionably the biggest waste of money ever. It was bland and tasteless, there was no difference between what should have been been two different taste sensations, the only difference was one had seeds thrown in. They were, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst bread I have ever had the misfortune of eating, EVER. They were so bad infact that I only had two slices of each, first lot fresh (loose term), the second lot toasted with jam & even the jam didn't enhance the taste. Both loaves were hard, heavy & seemed as if they were from the day before, its the only explanation I can think of because the bread I have from H.W. by comparison is fine, a treat. My wife got halfway through a slice but had to stop because it was so hard. Its not so much the cost, although at £8 for two loaves you should, quite rightly, expect something special, but it's the principle, it's about feeling ripped off, which I do. Needless to say I won't EVER buy from these charlatans again. You can make your own mind up.

Grahame G.

Decent range of products could have more and need to restrict dogs as a trip hazard

Learned G.

Greg C.

Gregory H.