Never in my life have I been to Bury Market, its local, local people speak well of it, it renowned, and often its featured on Granda Reports (local tv)
Its 15 miles away, so we can travel to the other side of the world but not visit our doorstep
When I met hubby some nine years ago, who is from that side of town he said he would take me, but times passing me by and did he? Nooooo !
So I am on my two week break from work and a unanimous decision was made, 'Sue and Company' were going to Bury Market on Saturday !
The thing is, I work something like 50 Saturdays of the year, so the ones I have off are treasured so a little trip out makes them even more special...so off we trot!!
Well, , its so hard to describe, really a video camera would have done it justice more than my words and my description...but this market is just fabulous and the fresh produce is most likely the best I have ever seen.
My Mum always bought fresh when I was little and I have been in tow on some of the best markets in the UK, cos that was my Mum and we had no choice but to follow
Every year we would go to Great Yarmouth on holiday and as sad as it sounds for a very young child (6-8 years old maybe) The highlights of my trip were the days we went to buy fresh produce on the market, I loved those days, they made an impact on me so much, taking every attention of the quality provided into detail!
Visting Bury market just transported me back in time, it was amazing, maybe 80% of the foods were produced either in the North West or the UK and there was produce there, local produce that I have not seen for more than 20 - 25 years, no way have I ever seen Cheshire potatoes in tescos ever, forbmy asparagus? Kent grown strawberries?
Having travelled to many countries abroad it makes me realise how brilliant we are at growing and cooking vegetables, but we dont celebrate nor appreciate that, and when you shop in Tescos for convenience as we do every week and settly for Cyprus s**t or whatever, make do, make do, well I was in my element!
I could just see the flavours bursting out at me.
When I was 11 years old (1972) I got my very first job in a Greengrocers, ok, they didnt ask my age and thought that I was 15/16 and looked shocked when after working there for a few weeks when it was my 12th birthday a friend brought a pressie in... I had not mentioned to my employers that it was my birthday...how old are you they asked...12 today I said...omg, we didnt realise, I giggled, of course I knew that when they offered me the job but from the day that they did, fruit and veg, and the quality of it,along with my Mums involvement, became exceptionally important to me from that time on!
So what did we buy today, well I cant recall everything...but ....from what I remember.....
A huge bag of boneless white hake.....a fiver
A huge bag of gammon.....a fiver
The biggest garlic bulbs you have ever seen....45p each
A mass of fresh coriander....and I mean a mass....30p!
Another mass of mint (we always make tzatziki, its a popular dish in this house) 60p, just to handle it for that price was a pleasure.
Bought Cheshire potatoes...omg, cant remember when I last saw them sold!
Bought local strawberries, cabbage and beetroot, local grown vine tomas and huge spring onions.
Bought the most fabulous stone bracelets .... a quid each... honestly if they were in New look , i would have gladly paid £8 each!
Being a girl that will buy anything sparkly I got a pair of fabulous diamante drop earring for three quid and honestly i just know when i wear them someone will say 'Sue where did you get them from, they are gorgeous'
Got loads of other stuff, gardening stuff , bits and bobs and in all we spent £20 total.
So after all the shop we thought it would be rude to leave and not taste the local delicacies!
So Hubby got a local meat pie and theres me with my black pudding stuck in my serviette (charming I know but Bury Market is most famous for its black puddings) so there we are, doing what we never do, walking about with outdoor food and oh my goodness, who do we bump into but Pat and John, our next door neighbours , the people who live in my parents house ( my parents lived next door to me and I lost them in 1995 and 2002)
Funny enough we never see them......unlesse that is, Pat knocks on my door and gives me her key for when she is on holiday...she did this two weeks ago, they went to Egypt on a cruise ship on the Nile and arrived home the night before we left for Greece, so how funny when we hardly chat but have a bond cos of my Mum and Dad (my prob cos I avoid her cos she always invites me in, and i just hate going into my Mum and Dads house) ........ and there they are on Bury Market, their first vistit too like ours, lol, John had heard you could buy winberry pies just like we had when we were kids and was after one)
I must say, they are a perfect couple and I could think of no better couple to enjoy my parents home and it was so nice to chat to them in an impartial place that was not going to lead to an offer of calling round for a glass of wine and a visit into my parents home which is a case of once bitten quite shy !
So all in all,and I look so forward to cooking all of the local produce and am really hating Tesco and all of the other big Supermarkets for how they cause us to shop and make our choices selling us produce that is not even available at places like Bury Market!
I work 5 mins walk from Bury Market. It is a fab place. A great shame that I am simply too busy in term time to get out during the day and do my shopping there. At the end of the year when I am not as busy I do get out for a nosey and always get lunch i katsoris (sorry about spelling!) lovely food there.
My part of the world being a man of Lancashire, :)
Ray used to work for bsm in bury, I used to go in with the three children while he was teaching, we'd go around the market, buying the weeks food, had our lunch then Ray would drive us back home before he went back to work, quite agree, honeybee, it was a fab market, bit far to go now :)
If only we could order online! :D
luckily, we've found a great little butcher in golborne and, soon, with any luck, we won't need the fruit and veggie market for a while ;D
Honeybee you've wetted my appetite We keep saying we will go but never get round to it. I am interested to know what "Cheshire" potatoes you bought, where abouts are you in glorious Cheshire.
Janet
what a fab review,we must make time to visit from scouseland
x
I was dragged up in Rawtenstall, 7 miles North of Bury... I was 11 in 1972... :-X
it sounds like a fab place to visit maybe one day.......
oh and i was born in 1972 ;) :-*
What time do you want me for dinner tomorrow Honeybee. :P ;D ;D ;D
I was married in 1972 ;D
CornyKev, ive got all the time in the world,so whenever your ready, any requests? ;D
Grannyjanny, teetering on the outskirts, Stalybridge? Cheshire potaotes really take me back to my youth, not seen them for donkeys!
Saddad dont knock it, it was a good vintage year ;D
My father is positively evangelistic about 'Cheshire potatoes' (& Bury market ;) ), but he moved north decades ago, so I've always wondered how much of his recollection is rose tinted. With that in mind, I'd be interested in finding out what varieties of spuds the Cheshire folk plant up to produce the eponymous tattle. (e.g. Jersey Royal =>variety: International Kidney).
I often ran over the moors to Ramsbottom from Darwen in my younger days and all the way back fit a as a butchers dog, :)
The reason I asked about Cheshires is because my OH thought you could buy Cheshire seed potatoes. I asked the local farmer where we buy Cheshires from & he grows Ulster Sceptre, he said the ones grown at Little Legh are Rocket & are earlier than his but not as tasty. Last year we bought the LL spuds & were very disappointed in the taste. The ones from our local farm were lovely. We didn't think anything of it until we got the lotty. We are trying UC & Swift for out first earlies.
Janet.
ooooo Bury market, haven't been there for bloomin years and years, and then some more. The black pudding is the best!! Just thinking about it is making me hungry
I know what you mean about cheshire spuds, I've got the same question but about kent spuds and wonder what variety they grow? Very tasty, but not as nice as your own tho :D
Sounds a fabulous market.
You obviously know how to live well "up north"!!
Us southerners - we don't have anything like that here - we do have a twice weekly market selling cheap trash and a weekly farmers market selling very expensive meat veg and cakes! Probably more decent markets about but yours sounds really good!
Nearly worth a trip - but then - I would get horribly lost and get into a tizzy! - I am not very adventurous these days!
Old Bird
Bury Market? Now that's what you call a market. Used to 'do it' most weekends in the late 80's-early 90's.
You have got me into the mood now. I am going to take a trip up there later in the week.
Have any of you "locals" been to Unicorn Food Co-operative in Chorlton. Also well worth a visit. It's a vegan shop but the veg are wonderful. I bought a bag of organic black peppercorns & the smell was knock-out. This shop has won awards & is now planning to grow their own but they do source things as local as possible. Have a google.
Kenkew I didn't realise were a former "local"
Janet
;D ;D ;D
Well done Honeybee for giving it a plug! Love it, love it, love it. They sell great fish at great prices and an amazing selection of veg, but most of all they have a stall selling black peas!!!!
;)
Grow your own... :-\
Ooooh yes, Unicorn is fab. The only place I have found which actually sells sprout tops!
Fortunately both the local Waitrose and Sainsbury's sell Bury Black pudding!!!!
Ah, might not have a good market on the doorstep but do have fruit and veg shops that sell sprout tops :D and can obviously get fresh fish, but then I miss out on the local (proper) black pudding :'(
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