Ella Young

When Ella moved to Forres in Morayshire she missed the Farmers’ Market in Devon. So she started one. Last month 500 people came.

How’s that for RichThinking! Here’s her story.

Why I wanted a market in Forres

I like to eat fresh seasonal food and carefully watch my food miles, avoiding buying food which has travelled far. I used to live in Exeter where there is a thriving weekly market. For ten years I was a box organiser for Riverford Organic Vegetables, ordering the weekly boxes for my customers, who then collected them from my porch. When I moved to Forres in June 2007, there was one greengrocer left, which closed in September that year. Apart from the supermarkets, and the weekly Earthshare CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box, for more variety of fresh food I had to travel by cycle or bus. When Forres became a Transition Town, setting up a farmers market seemed an important contribution to local resilience, reducing our food miles and our dependence on transportation using fossil fuel. It would also give small scale local businesses new sales opportunities.

I became very frustrated and then depressed trying to get planning permission from the local authority, who seemed to have a hidden agenda of preventing the market from happening. In reality, I now believe they were just following every letter of the regulations, whether relevant or not. On Easter Day I met an ex RAF sergeant who was keen to get the market going; I very thankfully passed her the files, and she is now battling with the council to have the market in the High Street from next April. She ran the first five markets illegally at the allotments, which I wouldn’t have had the nerve to do; it was a slow start but the final two markets of the year attracted 500 people, in a town of about 7,000. My part is now helping run the community stall, where anyone can bring goods they have grown or made for sale. Other stalls sell organic meat, local fish, cheeses, vegetables, baked goods, fruit, ice cream, and many types of craft work. I’m delighted the market is growing and here to stay.