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In 2001 a group of town councillors, farmers and community members set up a new initiative: The Tavistock Farmers Market. From relatively small beginnings, the market has now grown to 21 stalls and meets every 2nd, 4th and 5th Saturday of each month. For over a year now Liz Whitwell has been the Manager of this dedicated group of stall holders and it is a role she takes most seriously as she is passionate about locally grown, sourced and prepared produce.
Growing up in Hertfordshire, Liz went to university in Birmingham to study Geography. She joined the Navy in 1996 as a logistics officer and travelled the world visiting all seven continents in her 8 years of service. She met fellow naval officer, Nick at Dartmouth and despite the navy’s best efforts at separation, crossing oceans in different vessels in different directions, they married in 2002. The family moved to the Crapstone married quarters in 2007, and after Nick also left the Navy, they bought a small holding just west of Tavistock.
Liz says she wanted ‘knowledge and security’ for her family with the provenance of the food she was providing and felt frustrated with the obfuscating labels on many high street brands. By growing their own food they were both better able to understand the welfare of their stock whilst also reducing food miles. A great supporter of our community through lots of voluntary work, Liz has gone back to paid work part time and has used her experience and expertise of administration and project management in roles with the Tamar Energy Community and more recently the Tavistock Cooperative Learning Trust.
Liz is responsible for all bookings at the market and judiciously vets each stall holder to ensure a high standard of produce. She believes the market should work in partnership with the town and tries to ensure a wide and varied range of stalls with high quality, well presented goods from conventional and organic production methods ranging from jams and chutneys to breads, bakes and pies, meats, charcuterie and seafood to eggs, fruit, vegetables and plants. Livestock is now a regular feature at the market which children love whilst engaging and informing where their food comes from.
The stallholders are passionate about their produce and really enjoy talking about their goods. The market is the perfect choice for anyone with special dietary requirements because you can speak directly to the person who made the product. Liz believes the market offers every day good value. “It is not as expensive as people think and often better value and far greater quality than a supermarket equivalent. You also know that every penny spent with us directly benefits the local economy.”
Liz is present at each market and is on hand to safeguard its smooth running, allowing the traders to trade. She also maintains the website, runs the social media and plans events throughout the year to educate and entertain their visitors. She is proud of the market’s success and its ethos of local produce. Last year the market was presented with a Gold award from Taste of the West and was voted Devon Life’s best farmers market. Liz hopes to build on this success by continuing to strive for quality and diversity whilst encouraging more of us to support our local tradespeople. If you’ve never visited the market then Liz urges you to come along and try out the variety of produce on offer.
For more information regarding the Tavistock Farmers market or to sign up for their e-newsletter contact Liz on info@tavistockfarmersmarket.com, see the website www.tavistockfarmersmarket.com or follow them on Facebook Tavistock Farmers’ Market and Twitter @TaviFarmersMkt