Day 49 - Market Day!

Source: Cotswolds.com

Every Tuesday, a market is held on the High Street in Moreton in Marsh. Rain or shine, snow or heat wave, tents will be erected, and sellers will turn up with everything from meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, toy, candy, baked goods, clothing, leather good, household goods and hardware supplies. Locals from the surrounding country towns and villages will travel in to join tourists at the largest outdoor market in the Cotswolds.

The right to call your  town a Market Town is actually set in the law in the U.K., and goes back centuries. Since the Norman Conquest in 1066, it's been up to the King or Queen to grant a charter for a market. Many of them originally were held in fortifications and lords could charge sellers for space. Others developed in places that were natural crossroads, making it easy for people to get to them.

Basically it went that another town couldn't get a charter for a market if it was less than 10km from a town already holding a charter. Charters still hold today, but are held by local Councils. Councils can give permission for other towns to hold markets, but they can't be held on the same day of the week as an existing market. Today, according to the National Market Traders Federation, 1,166 markets are held across in the U.K.

Phil and I went to the market this morning. It's a really lovely, friendly atmosphere. People make a point of meeting up together on this day, and we even spotted a hired bus bringing in seniors and their dogs from another town.

In addition to absolutely beautiful, delicious strawberries (going to make my weekly batch of fresh jam), we bought: flawless cauliflower and carrots; a homemade steak, mushroom and red wine pie; black duck tape; a universal adaptor plug; and, curtain rings. We stopped ourselves from buying toys for our nephews and niece ... Christmas markets are coming. Can't wait!