Salisbury Charter Market
 

I will be in England in September, visiting Salisbury for 1 day. As it stands now I will be there on a Wednesday, but not one of the Wednesdays that is scheduled to be a farmer's market day. Is it worth arranging my itinerary to be there on a Tuesday, which is a charter market day? From what I have read on this forum it doesn't seem so, but I thought I would ask in case this is not the case. Thanks

Depends what you're looking for.

The Charter Market is just a normal weekly (in this case twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays,NOT Wednesday) street market, like you get almost everywhere in England. Sort of thing ordinary people buy food and some other basics (like crap clothes and hard to find gadgets) from. Actually the stallholders on the website look rather more interesting than most, especially if you're looking for vacuum cleaner bags (http://www.salisburymarket.com). But it's still just a street market: useful if you live there, possibly photogenic if you live somewhere that doesn't have such things, but otherwise pretty bog standard.

The fortnightly farmers'market is one of those new, overpriced and sometimes a bit dodgy, operations designed to give the better off a bit of excitement and the delusion they're helping the local economy, or the planet or whatever. Few stalls actually sell local fruit or veg: most sell something faintly exotic they can charge a premium for (like olives, that well known Wiltshire crop, or frozen yogurt: www.wiltshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk/). Doubt you're missing much.

flanneruk - actually is was the stallholders shown on the website that made me interested in checking out the market. Are you saying they aren't really at the market?

"Are you saying they aren't really at the market?"

Which market? The only ones actually listed for Wiltshire Farmers Markets are an olive seller, a low-fat icecream chap and an unspecified organics person. The list at the proper market includes local mushrooms, Dorset fish and a Dorset pie maker - as well as the unmissable vacuum cleaner bagman and the dolls house furniture.

I imagine that when they produce an updated list for the farmers' market, there'll be the mozzarella from local buffaloes, sweaters from local alpacas and venison culled from a local deer park that all the Farmers' Markets round here specialise in. Interesting (especially to the stallholders' balance sheets) - but hardly stuff Michelin would say <i> vaut le detour </i>

flanneruk - I was referring to the Charter Market

Hi, I'd agree with flanneruk "it's still just a street market: useful if you live there, possibly photogenic if you live somewhere that doesn't have such things, but otherwise pretty bog standard." - it's very useful for locals, but I certainly wouldn't arrange a trip around it
HTH
Matt