West Cornwall has a long history with the land and the sea, and today produces some of the best food in the UK. Small farmers, fishing families and local businesses are increasingly turning to local farmers’ markets as a way of selling directly to the public and to avoid dealing with the big retailers.

Last weekend saw one of Cornwall’s largest farmers’ markets take place in Helston, but there are plenty of other smaller markets taking place in villages across West Cornwall every week. Paul and St Levan Farmers’ Markets are both run by Adele Corin who grows organic vegetables on her smallholding in the Lamorna Valley.

“Around the south coast of West Penwith the communities are really isolated from each other, and access to farmers’ markets can be quite restricted,” explained Adele, who sells her vegetables from her stall at Treen, and runs the Treen Local Produce and Craft Shop which opens during the summer.

“We used to run a small market in Lamorna, before setting up the farmers’ market in Paul two years ago, and St Levan 12 months ago. In many of these villages the local shop has closed down and having a regular farmers’ market makes it easy for people to buy the local food that so many of them want.”

“People are demanding to know where their food has come from, who has produced and what has gone into making that happen. That’s why farmers’ markets are growing here and in other parts of the country – people want to know the person who made their food. Small community based markets like ours make that connection between the consumer and the producer – which is building trust in the local food market.”

Lamorna Fayre can be found at Sennen, Paul and St Levan Farmers’ Markets which are part of the West Cornwall Farmers’ Market Project – an innovative scheme funded by a grant from West Cornwall Local Action part of the Rural Development Programme for England, funded by the EU and Defra, and managed by the South West RDA.

For more information please visit www.wcfm.org.uk