How markets are helping Shropshire farmers fight back

It seems everybody in Oswestry wants some of his speciality sausage, but he has sold out entirely. And it has only just gone 11am.

"It is very popular," says the farmer-turned-butcher from Ellesmere.

"I made twice as much as I normally do, and I have already sold out.

• See our directory of businesses that support our region’s farmers at shropshirestar.com/farmers

• Keep up with all of the campaign news at shropshirestar.com/fair-deal-for-farmers

"It is made to a special secret recipe that George Hawyard gave to me, I'm the only one to have a proper copy of that, it is a closely guarded secret."

Rodney, who runs his butchery business from Mereside Farm in Ellesmere, is one of several stallholders on Oswestry's monthly artisan market.

Farmers' markets are big business these days. Back in the 1970s and 80s they were practically extinct, as Britain embraced the convenience of supermarket shopping, and freezers and microwave ovens were the big status-symbols of every upwardly mobile household.

But markets such as the one in Oswestry, which celebrates its 17th anniversary in the town next month, are now commonplace in both rural and urban areas alike, as even fashionable city-dwellers see the benefits of wholesome food which can be traced back to a local farm.

Everyone associated with the Oswestry farmers' market backed the Shropshire Star's Fair Deal for Farmers Campaign.

They also added their names to the Star's directory of businesses that support farmers in our region, which can be seen at shropshirestar.com/farmers.

"Back in the 70s people didn't want to know about their food," says Rodney, now 62.

"But now we find a lot of people want to know where food has come from.

"I do the markets at Whitchurch on the first Saturday of the month, at Ellesmere every Thursday, I do Shrewsbury and I do Oswestry. At the moment that's all I have time for."

He says the sausages always do well at Oswestry, as people come from the outlying rural areas and stock up with them in large quantities.

"It's a very traditional recipe going back many years," he says.

George Hawyard gave me the recipe in 1985," he says.

"He could have sold it and made money, but he chose to give it to me.

"All the meat comes from George Hayward's farm, although I do my own seasoning."

As well as the sausage, he is also selling hand-made pork pies.

"My favourite is the blue, why don't you try a bit?" he says, handing me a plate. "It's quite a strong flavour, the blue cheese."

A short distance up the road, outside the Guildhall in Bailey Head, is Mary Huxley.

Known to her customers as Mary From The Dairy, she is one of the best known characters on the market. Mesmerised youngsters stare in astonishment as she churns the milk in to butter, and then pats it into her own trademark designs using two pieces of wood known as scotch hands.

Mary, 78, keeps Rowe Farm at Dorrington, near Shrewsbury, and worked in farming since childhood.

"I used to walk the cows to the market in Shrewsbury before I went to school in the morning," she says.

"At the time we thought it was great fun, we must have been mad. We never got paid, but I bet my dad did."

She also sells eggs from free-range hens she keeps on the farm.

"Because they are free-range eggs, they have got a lovely coloured yolk, especially if they are from young hens."

She explains to a customer how the butter is lighter this time of year because there is less grass about for the cows to eat.

Sue and Derek Barlow, who are regular visitors to farmers' markets around the county, say her butter is unique in its flavour, unlike anything that can be bought anywhere else.

"This is the very best," says Sue who is 65.

"We come from Shrewsbury, we have tried farm butter all over, but it's just so nice.

"I will buy butter from the supermarket for cooking with, but I wouldn't eat it on my bread.

"This butter is so good that we don't put any jam or marmalade on our toast, we just enjoy the taste of the butter."

Derek who is 70, adds: "We support the local farmers as much as we can because we're both from the countryside, we both grew up around farming."

Butcher Jamie Ward is one of the founding members of the Oswestry artisan market, and says he has only missed one day since it was launched in 1999.

"I used to be a farmer, but gave it up in the late 1990s because the prices weren't very good," he says.

"My family had been farming forever, at least 250 years, it was very hard giving it up."

Jamie, who is 56, only sells meat from local farms, and says that the ability to trace it back to a specific location is very important to customers.

"I get most of my beef from Cross Lane Farm, just outside Oswestry," he says.

"My chicken are from Highbury Poultry Farms based in Shropshire, just outside Whitchurch."

He says knowing that food has not travelled far is very important to his customers.

"Food miles is very important," says Jamie. "If it hasn't travelled far it is fresher, it hasn't been exposed to the pollution," he says.

"You really can taste the difference, the taste is really obvious."

Sue Jones has been a regular customer of Jamie's for the past 18 years, and has come to buy her favourite oyster joint gammon.

"I'm a big believer in supporting your local farmers," says Sue, who is 68.

"It is important to know where your food comes from, and that it is all fresh. I love the oyster joint."

Jamie adds: "In the past, everything was fresh and local, but it's a very different world today, it's a global economy and stuff gets shipped everywhere.

"These days you get pork from New Zealand and beef from Argentina. That's not to say it's not good, but you really don't know much about what has been done with it.

"It sounds strange, but I even get vegetarians who come here and buy meat from me, because they are concerned about animal welfare, and I am able to vouch for everything that is here."

He says that customers also look to him and his staff for advice, and it is important to be able to tell them about the meat and how to get the best out of it.

"People want to be able to talk to somebody about the the different cuts, and how to cook it," says Jamie.

Amanda Woof, who keeps the Aunty Mo's stall on the market selling home-made sausage rolls and scotch eggs, says she sources all her meat from either Jamie Ward or Rodney Stokes.

"I make them all at Treflach Farm, where I rent a unit," says Amanda, who is 56.

"Our Welsh Dragon scotch eggs are very popular, with fresh leeks and chilli, all locally sourced."

Join our campaign – and highlight how you place the produce of Shropshire and Mid Wales in the shop window.

• See our directory of businesses that support our region’s farmers at shropshirestar.com/farmers

• Keep up with all of the campaign news at shropshirestar.com/fair-deal-for-farmers

You might be a butcher, baker, deli or even a florist. You may run a restaurant, pub or cafe. Or you may sell your wares at fairs or farmers markets.

As long as you use produce made by farmers in our region, you can be included.

The Shropshire Star will create an online directory of businesses that support our farmers.

And we will send you a Fair Deal for Farmers window sticker that you can display to your customers.

It is easy to get involved:

Send an email to us at: newsroom@shropshirestar.co.uk

Write to: Fair Deal, Shropshire Star, Ketley, Telford TF1 5HU

We need to know your name, the name of your business and its address and how you support farmers – please also name farms you support and the produce you either sell or serve up.