Once a month a craft and food market sets up on the route of our morning dog walk. In good weather on a large grassy square and in bad weather in disused buildings. Either location gives the market a buzzy lively feel. Yesterday was market day and we set off on our usual dog walk with the added quest for Fig and Fennel Sourdough. Both were achieved alongside a bit of nattering to neighbours and fellow dog walkers. Our afternoon dog walk took in a quick visit to the JMW Turner exhibition that I am involved in.
Also quite a buzzy feel and plenty of people to chat to, just no hunt for an obscure flavour of sourdough.
A good Sunday,I think. Even if my mind is popping with all the images and nattering.
And so it begins. The December countdown. We went to a Christmas market in the shadow of Exeter’s Medieval Cathedral. The market was charming, we arrived early, before crowds and bad weather turned the grounds underfoot into a Medieval re-enactment of normal muddy life in the 14 th Century. The piped music was recordings from the Cathedral Choir singing sacred music. The sights and smells were timelessly festive and wintery.
Open fires.
Smoky tents.
A previous visit to the Cathedral gave us the bauble to beat all baubles.
Gaia at Exeter Cathedral.Gaia in a mirror showing the Mediaeval vaulted ceiling of the Cathedral.
There are 26 days until Boxing Day. 26 letters in the Alphabet. The daily blogs in December will end with an alphabetical snippet. A is for Arriety.
Today , The Laminations of Arriety.
Sounds like a suitably Cathedral/ Religious text-like story, but is in fact, a sumtuous Pain au Chocolat served in a cafe not far from the Cathedral.
This top image is contrary. Yesterday bad weather and serendipity took us to Tavistock market. A place of colour and bustle, but also these beautiful white meringues.
I had found a Belle Epoque mirror on a second-hand site for a very small amount of money. An early morning drive to Tavistock would give us the chance to collect it and walk the dogs on Dartmoor.
The weather had other ideas, and by the time we hit the moors on our way to Tavistock we were in the worst sort of rainstorm. The dogs still needed walking but as luck would have it Tavistock has an ancient covered market.
Somewhere we could browse and people watch, and the dogs could stretch their legs and enjoy the mixed smells of market life. I am a sucker for the market vibe. I love the juxtaposition of colours, smells and people. Throw Christmas into the mix and things could not get more fancy.
Tavistock is a market town that is traditional in every sense. Country people come into the town to stock up stuff that sustains them in their rural, and often isolated homes out in the wildness of the moor. Tavistock is a town where people wear country clothing because they need to, not because it is a fashion trend. Deerstalkers, the iconic hat of Sherlock Holmes are worn as a matter of course. This is the land of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Tavistock market is the location of Butchers Hall, the roof is one of my favourite complicated photos.
As we are drawing towards the end of 2023, I thought I would just thtow in some other market pictures of the past year.
Only the middle one was taken at Tavistock y.esterday. The top one was in Bangkok and the last one was Hong Kong. All featuring food but I also have hats and slippers to share.
Hats in Tavistock.
And slippers in Venice.
For the serendipitous and fascinating love of markets.
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