Margaret River Farmers’ Market
The Margaret River Farmers’ Market brings together 45-55 stalls every Saturday 8am to 12pm. The weekend we dropped by, the market was trading for the first time at its new location, the Shire building grounds on Walcliffe Road, having moved from the Community Resource Centre on Tunbridge Street. We just followed the crowd and parked for free across the road.
The market is run by the Margaret River Regional Producers Association, a non-profit organisation. Only producers from the local shires and the South West region are eligible to set up stalls, and the stalls are all operated by the people who grow the produce/make the products.
We ate breakfast at the market: delicious vegetable pakora, fried fresh that morning and still warm; a mushroom pie (cold, like on a picnic!) from Fre-Jac Bakery; and a bacon and egg burger with heavy BBQ sauce (that’s what happens when Jac gets hold of the sauce bottle).
My pictures only capture some of the stalls. There’s plenty at the market for your pantry, fridge and tummy: eggs, bread and pastries (gosh, I wished I had room for vanilla slice), meat and sausages, seafood, handmade pasta, jams and chutneys, pickles and relishes, fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, honey, herbs and spices, olive oil, nuts, and even wine.
The market has been plastic carry bag-free since last weekend (5 July), so if you go, remember to bring your own shopping bags. We always take an esky in the car to store our purchases – no matter what market we go to, we just can’t seem to resist the cheese (on this occasion, one of our favourites, Cambray Sheep Cheese from Nannup).
Margaret River is known for outstanding dining experiences but at the farmers’ market, you can taste and buy some of the region’s spectacular ingredients for yourself, meet the growers and producers and mingle with the lucky locals who get to shop there every Saturday.
Margaret River Farmers Market
Saturdays 8am to 12pm
Augusta-Margaret River Shire Building Grounds
41 Wallcliffe Road
Margaret River WA 6285
We visited the Margaret River Farmers’ Market as part of a trip where we were guests of the Augusta Margaret River Tourism Association, but we paid for our market breakfast and all other purchased items. See the end of this post for more about our trip to the Margaret River region.
The Yahava coffee van was very popular. Jac got herself a coffee frappe from here.
SweetcornMargaret River sweet corn. One of the ladies at this stall smiled at me and said “Ni hao” at the same time that I said “G’day, how yer going?” We both cracked up.
Veggie pakora
These pakoras are delicious – well worth trying.
Rustic crusty loaves from Yallingup Woodfired Bread
Ky’s Semi-Famous Raw Pizza on a seed and veggie base topped with pesto and fresh local veggies – by Conscious Craves, who specialise in raw vegetarian organic foods
Don’t drop the eggs!
Traditional Italian biscuits by I Pasticcioni
Mushroom pie from Fre-Jac Bakery
As soon as we smelled the bacon frying, it was only a matter of time… “Soft yolk, no worries!”
Bacon and egg burger, soft bun and soft egg yolk, heavy BBQ sauce. Good market tucker!
Jac bought crocodile jerky from Absolute Biltong & Jerky
By Gordo – local boutique wine
Cape Farm Shop verjuice
Tomato relishes
Fresh and dried grapes
Margaret River Bakery
These ham and cheese croissants smelled wonderful!
About this trip and this series – Margaret River 2014
We visited the Margaret River region in the south west of Western Australia for four days in May as guests of the Augusta Margaret River Tourism Association and were hosted by restaurants and businesses in the region.
We drove to the region and used a Margaret River Region Map to guide us to the stops on our itinerary.
The full list of blog posts from this trip is below, in reading order:
- Discovery Menu, Voyager Estate, Margaret River
- Bettenay’s – Margaret River Nougat Company
- Dining in Margaret River town
- Lake Cave, Margaret River
- Brookwood Estate
- Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore
- Margaret River Farmers Market – this post
- The Berry Farm, Rosa Glen
- Two days in Yallingup, Part 1
- Goanna Gallery Cafe, Dunsborough
- Two days in Yallingup, Part 2 – Aravina Estate
For more information about visiting the Margaret River region including how to get there, visit margaretriver.com