As many of you will know in Cornwall we are lucky enough to have lots and lots of small companies producing exceptional food and drink. Hedgerow was a new company to me and they claim to be an "artisan food company, sourcing local and foraged ingredients, creating bespoke flavour combinations through food and drink". I bought a bottle of their sloe gin for Libby's husband Mark's Christmas present. He is a bit of a sloe gin connoisseur, regularly trying different sloe gins on the various shoots he attends - we'll see what he thinks of this one. Hedgerow's beautiful bottle came with a pretty wax seal and a handwritten label stating which one of the Hedgerow team made the tipple.
Bloom Remedies is an organic skincare company based in West Cornwall and I really liked the look of their products which were beautifully presented. I noticed that they had been featured in the December issue of "Cornwall Today" and that owner Marie had trained at Neal's Yard in Covent Garden. I bought a citrus lip balm which smells heavenly.
Another Christmas present bagged was a Bad Boy Chilli Co box set for my chef brother-in-law. These chilli mash are made by "two mates with passion for chilli" from Lostwithiel. They use a disused glass house in a walled garden to grow chillies for their Kernow Gold Label and carefully source chillies from their country of origin for their other mash; the box set I bought includes Asian, Caribbean, Mexican and Indian chillies. The guys on the stall were clearly enthusiastic about their products and were keen to get people to use chillies beyond their normal remit - they had tasters of their chilli brownies which were delicious.
There was a great atmosphere in the marquee and the whole place was buzzing. It's clearly a popular date in Fowey's calendar as I overheard one women saying to her friend that she comes on the first day and has a quick look at all the stalls and then returns the next day to make her purchases!
After leaving the market we had a quick wonder around the town. Fowey's shops are full of independent traders and the town is a great place for getting some unique and unusual things. The shop's windows were all looking great.
The bakery in the photo above is the popular Quay Bakery which always has a healthy throng crowding around the window. The smells coming from the bakery were amazing so I couldn't help but going in and picking a little something up to take home - yum!
Last purchase of the day was from some adorably dressed little girls who were selling Reindeer Food. If you've never seen it before it's a sparkly, yummy mix (to reindeers at least!) which you put out on the driveway to direct Father Christmas' sleigh team to your house.
All in all a great start to the festive season in Cornwall - roll on the next event!
