Good game, come on down

I met up with Susan Benn last Wednesday at the farmers market. Susan has just joined ‘team Rye News’ and our mission was to talk to the stall holders at the farmers’ market, take some photos and put our heads together to write an article just to remind our locals that the market exists and is here for us each week.

Bulk meat orders and catering sized blocks of mature cheddar can be bought every week from the ‘meat man’ at Rye’s Thursday market and you can also find a number of stalls selling a variety of produce including the traditional greengrocery stall for your fruit and veg. All fine if you want to buy in bulk but if you are looking for locally sourced and produced meat, game, jams and preserves you need look no further than at the rear of the Cinque Ports where the message is clear: fresh food, locally produced.

Darren Lewis is known to many locals, he’s a familiar face trading locally for many years and when he’s not in Rye he could be at Brede, Bexhill, Rolvenden, Surbiton, Rochester, Farnham, Thames Ditton or Ripley in Surrey to list just a few of his regular pitches. His stall was groaning under the weight of fresh local meat and game, all clearly labelled and with a good selection available.

Darren is a softly spoken man, who listens to what you want, he’s not a hard sell salesman  but has a genuine desire to help. He’s a mine of information and knows his business well and in conversation I noticed a special offer on his game sausages, three packs for £10 and if they taste as good as they look, they should be delicious. I bought some and am relishing the moment when I can try them but will it be the venison or the wild boar and apple?

His wife Shirley was with him, she specialises in home made cakes and as from this week, will be there every other Wednesday, her daughter often helps out, a real family affair and well worth supporting.

Next to Darren’s stall is Mo Senior. She is a long established purveyor of home-made jams and preserves and her display consisted of a huge variety of jams, where possible made from fruit picked from her own garden. Favourites with Rye locals are strawberry and raspberry jams and Seville orange marmalade. From her own garden she also produces preserves from crab apples, cherry, plum and elderberries. She doesn’t use preservatives and even the gelling agent (pectin) is home made. Mo certainly flies the flag for local produce and is in Rye every other week when she’s not selling in Bexhill.

The French Delicatessen, Eric Chauvel, is the man to contact if you want to set up a stall and join the farmers’ market. Nothing is set in stone, the weekly cost for a ‘pitch’ is between £6 and £12  but it depends on what you want to sell and how much space you need, generally the first week is complimentary to give you a feel of the market.

He sets up his trailer, which converts to a mobile display counter for all his cheese and pâté at around 7:30am – 7:45am. He doesn’t like to rush so allows himself plenty of time to set things out properly. He points out one of his customers who arrived while we were chatting, she has been coming to him every week for as long as he can remember, Eric is French and as she continues to purchase her regular order she does so in his mother tongue as she speaks fluent French.

I have always been puzzled why the farmers market moved from Strand Quay where it was far more visible but Eric explained that the site was very exposed to the elements and the busy road became an issue for locals trying to cross over it and so it was time for a change, the landlord of the Cinque Ports threw them a lifeline and has been very supportive ever since.  Eric also trades from Hastings, Bexhill, Brede, Hythe and Rochester to name a few of his regular venues and interestingly his most requested cheeses from Rye locals are goats cheese and brie.

A fresh fish stall would complement the existing stalls and Eric is keen to talk to anyone considering taking a stall but, as he said to me, the customers who come to the farmers’ market are generally not tourists, they tend to go to the Thursday market. His local customers invariably walk to see him, they want quality not quantity. It may cost a little more than mass produced products from larger shops and supermarkets but the emphasis is on quality produce at fair prices and sourced locally, wherever possible.

Everyone we met was proud of what they produce, they all work hard getting here, setting up and bringing good food to central Rye for us all to enjoy, the least we can do is go along and meet them, try something and make their efforts and journey worthwhile. During lockdown  they were still there for us, they didn’t stop trading as they operate outside, with our support they can continue to offer good food to us locals.

Try them next Wednesday morning, they are there until midday and if you want to talk to Eric about having a stall, call him on 07817 521312 and as for me, I will let you know the verdict on my venison and wild boar sausages, tempted yet?

Image Credits: Susan Benn .