[Gallery]
The Farmers Market on a Saturday Morning
*Saturday morning. I go every week. Have for years. The market starts at 8am and by 10am the best of it is gone.*
Saturday morning. I go every week. Have for years. The market starts at 8am and by 10am the best of it is gone. I get there at 8.
This is short. It's a market, not a destination. But for visitors trying to understand what this region actually grows and makes, an hour at the Margaret River farmers market on a Saturday morning will teach you more than three winery lunches.
Photo: Vasse Felix, CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Where it is and when
The market runs every Saturday, year-round, from 8am to noon, at the Margaret River Education Campus grounds on Bussell Hwy in Margaret River town. There's a sign on the highway. Parking is free in the campus lot and overflows onto the grass when it's busy.
It runs in all weather. Winter mornings the stallholders pull out tarps and the coffee queue gets longer. Summer mornings everyone is gone by 11.
What I actually buy
Here's the part of every Saturday that doesn't vary much.
Bread from one of the two bakery stalls. Sourdough, sometimes a fruit loaf if Pamela has asked. The Yallingup Woodfired Bread stall is the one I look for first.
Eggs from the egg lady whose name I should know by now and don't. Free-range, the yolks the colour of mustard.
Cheese from the Cowaramup stall. The aged cheddar is the one I buy most weeks.
Olive oil from one of the Margaret River olive growers, refilled into the same bottle I've been bringing for years. The locals do this; the visitors don't. If you're staying in the region for a week, buy a bottle the first weekend and bring it back the next.
Tomatoes in summer, from one of the inland growers near Cowaramup. Real tomatoes that smell of tomato.
A coffee from the coffee van at the back. Same van for years.
That's the standing order. Beyond that, whatever's good that week. Mushrooms in autumn. Stone fruit in summer. Whole snapper if the fish stall is on form. Honey from Boyup Brook, twenty kilometres east, that doesn't taste like supermarket honey.
If you want to know what's actually in season here, look at what's on the tables at 8.15am. By 9.30am the stalls have rearranged to hide the gaps.
The ritual
Pamela and I have a routine. We go separately if one of us is working. We meet at the coffee van. We walk a loop together, paying for things she's chosen and I'm carrying. We sit on the grass for ten minutes and watch the kids run between the stalls. Then home.
It takes about forty-five minutes. We're back in Yallingup before 10. The whole point is to be home before the day starts. If you turn up at 10 to a Saturday market expecting a leisurely brunch, you've misunderstood it.
What to look for as a visitor
You're not going to do the weekly shop. You're going to taste a few things and buy a small bag to take back to wherever you're staying. So aim for the things that travel and don't need refrigeration for a day or two:
- A loaf of sourdough
- A wedge of cheese (it'll keep in an esky)
- A small jar of honey
- Olives in oil
- A bottle of local olive oil if you've got space in your luggage
- A small punnet of stone fruit or strawberries to eat in the car
Avoid: a whole snapper if you don't have a kitchen. Bunches of fresh herbs you won't use. Anything that needs cooking that day if you've got a restaurant booked.
The other thing to remember is that the prices aren't supermarket prices. The bread is $9 a loaf, not $4. The eggs are $10 a dozen, not $6. You're paying the actual cost of food made by the person standing in front of you. If that doesn't appeal, the IGA across town does the same shop for half.
Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Genuinely local vs brought in
Most of the stalls are genuinely local. A few aren't. The honest test is the question "where is your farm?" and seeing whether the answer is specific. The growers from Witchcliffe, Karridale, Rosa Brook, Cowaramup, Boyup Brook, Bridgetown — those are the real ones. The stall that says "we get it from a co-op in Perth" isn't lying, but it isn't a farmers market in the strict sense either.
The market managers police this fairly well. The vast majority of what's on the tables is grown, made, or caught within a couple of hours' drive.
After the market
If you've come down from Yallingup or Dunsborough specifically for the market, there's no reason to drive straight back. The town itself rewards a slow morning before the rest of the day starts. The bakery on the main street opens early. The bookshop opens at 9.30. The brewery doesn't, but you weren't going to drink at 10am anyway.
What I usually do is the market, then a short walk along the river behind the town. The riverbank track runs east from the main bridge and gives you twenty minutes in karri country. Then I drive back via Caves Rd rather than the highway. The road is slower but the morning light through the karri is something I haven't got tired of in forty years.
One line close
If you've come to this region for a week and you only go to the market once, go on the first Saturday. You'll cook better for the rest of the trip.
From the market back to the workshop on Blythe Rd is about twenty-five minutes. Take Bussell Hwy north and turn at Carbunup. The gallery has a viewing window into the workshop. Free entry, no booking.
Photo: Stuart Sevastos, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
For the wider Margaret River day, and a quieter list of free things to do in the region, I've written those up separately.
The drive from the market back to Yallingup takes about twenty-five minutes. The gallery is on the way.
Plan your visit to Yallingup.
Directions & hours →