Chiswick Farmer’s Market

Miel de Bruy√®re from the South of France rubs shoulders with fiery Sicilian Pate di Peperoncino while wild Scottish salmon vies for space with stone ground organic lemon oil from Puglia. And all this is available each week in deepest, darkest Chiswick with a pint of (sadly non-organic) beer within easy grasp in the oh-so-traditional adjacent bar and café.

Taste the World

The lovely man from the Sicily in London stall first scoured (with fair warning) potential customers’ taste buds with the aforementioned chilli pate before administering his fresh lemon marmalade as a rescue remedy. His final delicious offering was a dollop of wonderfully deep red chilli jam on a slice of tasty cheese. The enticing aroma and sizzle from The Sausage Sage drew large crowds. The sage himself cooked up banger after banger with onions to fix his famous and much-loved sausage sandwiches. His links are on sale too and are superb; large, meaty, wonderfully flavoured and are all sourced from organic herds at Wickham Farm. Opposite The Sausage Sage and also competing for Most Mouth-Watering Aroma were the sizzling lamb and beef burgers tended by the good men in white coats from March House Farm. It was the cheese stall that won the prize however; some of its wonderful cheeses were almost walking off the table.

You are What You Eat

The produce, meat especially, can be fairly expensive but buying organic has never come cheap. Some prices at the Chiswick Farmer’s Market remain surprisingly low. For instance, a bag of crunchy Ringden Farm Cox’s can be had for a pound. Quality, as everyone knows, costs money and therefore must be paid for. And when quality tastes this good, it’s worth splashing out every now and then. Information is forthcoming as well, with the fishmonger and a customer vociferating knowledgeably about the pink pellets fed to farmed salmon to ensure their grey flesh becomes suitably coloured for consumption. The only missing ingredients from this market are some organic wines and beers.

For the sweet toothed, the delicate pastry and sumptuously colourful fillings in the flans from Just Desserts looked almost too good to eat. Almost being the operative word… The baked goodies on offer next door were much more from your favourite grandmother’s oven. The choice of sticky but light Bakewell cake, strangely flat rock cakes and chewy flapjack made many children wring their hands and widen their eyes with indecision.

This Green and Pleasant Land

Chiswick is a lovely, leafy West London suburb and the area around Duke’s Meadow is particularly verdant. The rolling grounds of both Chiswick and Hogarth Houses are minutes from the Farmer’s Market. Chiswick House was used as a residence by George V and Edward VII and Queen Victoria threw famous garden parties across its lawns. Heading south, the open green space of Duke’s Meadow leads down to the Thames Path. Today, Duke’s Meadow continues to act as a lung for London and the space is filled with dog walkers, families at play and promenades along the Thames, just as in years gone by.

Duke’s Meadow is administered by a community-driven charity with the suitably green Richard Briers from The Good Life as patron. For the kids this summer, a particularly adventurous playground is imminently to open next to the lovely mosaiced paddling pool. And every other Sunday a group of wellington booted volunteers head out to plant bulbs, paint benches, clean up the river, paint the pavilion and the like.

Chiswick Farmer’s Market, Chiswick House, Duke’s Meadow and the Thames Path are reason enough to lure anyone out west any weekend but a trip on 3 April 2010 will give a free view of one of London’s most famous sporting events. The Boat Race sweeps past the Chiswick foreshore and nearby Chiswick Pier will host special events. Organisers advise no one to drive to the Thames for the Boat Race, but to use public transport instead.