Cleobury Mortimer is ‘an area combining nine agricultural parishes centred upon the historic market town of Cleobury Mortimer, on the Shropshire / Worcestershire border’ (Cleobury Country Farmers Market Homepage, 2025). Nestled in St Mary’s Church, taking place on the third Saturday of every month from 9.30pm-12pm, this small market is about more than just food.
I first discovered Cleobury Country Farmers Market in late 2021. I had been running my kitchen table micro bakery business, as a home delivery service for a year and a half, at this point. I was delighted with a warm welcome and an array of food and drink, made by producers with so much knowledge about the products they were directly selling. As a producer myself I made breads displaying the visual assurance of the ‘Sustain loaf mark’, plus other tasty baked goods. I used flour sourced as locally as possible, with the allergen policies essential to my business. I felt instantly at home at Cleobury. Not only that, the market was awash with talented crafts people of wood products, fabrics, toiletries, and so much more.
The buzz of the people coming in and the knowledge shared between traders and customers illustrated the continued desire, from the post pandemic community, to know more and shop more locally. Cleobury had been running for close to 10 years, before I joined and you can learn more about this on their website. The first opening of the Cleobury Country Market in 2013, shows an exciting beginning to the market and can be viewed on their gallery page there.
“A three month campaign starting in July, ‘More Than Food’, aims to raise awareness of the benefits of real, local food from both farm shops and farmers markets as an alternative to using the supermarkets and to significantly increase consumer awareness, footfall and local spending with publicity carrying on throughout the year.
The FRA (Farm Retail Association) will encourage consumers to shop locally and to discover fresher and more sustainable food options, supporting their local communities and educating children through the experience of shopping in a real farm environment rather than a supermarket”, (Henrietta Green, The Guild of Food Writers Members’ June Newsletter, 2025).
Here, in this blog, I reintroduce to you some of the current food and drink traders from Cleobury Country Farmers Market. The aim being to support the current campaign of the Farm Retail Association, by showing the sustainable options on your doorstep. With this, I hope to bring more awareness to people visiting this or any farmers markets. You may, or may not, be aware of local Farmers’ Markets of different sizes, that you haven’t yet explored. We really get to know our customers and you will be warmly welcomed. You will find a feeling of community and a buzz from the world of quality in produce and in the way we care about how we bring our products to market.
At Cleobury Country Farmers Market there is, gratefully, a drinks and homemade cakes area, offering tables and seats to take the weight off and perhaps seat your little ones for a quick snack. It’s here you may chat to somebody new or meet up with friends and family. Well behaved dogs on leads are welcome too. Take the time to chat to as many traders as you can and you’ll see that it really is about more than food and purchases.
Cleobury Country Ltd, ‘brings together a variety of agencies (St Marys Church, Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council and itself) to provide the town with a regular Farmers’ Market, as an opportunity for small producers to sell their wares and for new entrepreneurs to test the market with their goods. It adopts the general rules of Farmers’ Market and the full rules can be found on the traders’ page’ (Cleobury Country Farmers Market Homepage, 2025).
The Cleobury Mortimer Farmers Market rules specify that, ‘all food or drink offered for sale must be grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked or processed by the stall holder. Primary produce including livestock must have been grown or finished on the producers’ land. Processed foods must have been made in the defined (35 mile) area and use local ingredients where possible’ (Cleobury Country Farmers Market information for traders’ web page, 2025). These rules hopefully further encourage visitors to feel reassured about the extra lengths that Farmers and producers go to for the produce they choose. And the prices you see will often reflect the quality and time spent on each product on offer.
This is not an exhaustive summary of food and drink, appearing over the year at the market and does not include the craft sellers on this occasion. That’s another blog I’m eager to write about. Please visit the website for more information about these and better still, come for a visit to the market. September to December often kicks off with a renewed surge of interested consumers. But remember that support for every month is greatly appreciated and essential to keep it running. For greater detail about each seller, I’ve included their website link, where there is one.
Cosy Kitchen
‘Bakes cakes and savouries and makes chutneys in her home kitchen. She travels to various market venues in Wolverhampton, Shropshire and Staffordshire. Options avoiding gluten, dairy or eggs can be on offer’ (Cosy kitchen website, 2025).
Bennett & Dunn
‘Bennett & Dunn cold pressed Rapeseed oil is produced by husband-and-wife team Rupert and Tracey Bennett. Rupert takes great pride in producing a superior quality product. The Rapeseed is cold pressed; triple filtered and then hand bottled by Rupert on the farm. The oil is GM free, gluten free and the production process is chemical free. This ensures their rapeseed oil retains all of its health benefits and delicious flavour’ (Bennet & Dunn website 2025).
Little Detton
‘Their Beef and Lamb are bred and grown on the farm. Pork is reared on the farm from weaners purchased locally. They use a small local abattoir for slaughter of Lamb and Pork.
Meat chickens are purchased at day old and fattened at Little Detton, as free-range birds. They home slaughter their chickens with a humane device. All Lamb, Pork & Chicken are hung in their fridges at Little Detton, then butchered by them in their onsite butchery.
Beef is butchered by the butchers at the abattoir.
Anthony Bradley ‘The Ham Man’
Home cooked and flavoured large hams. Sliced freshly from the ham joint on market day.
anthonyrobertsbradley@gmail.com
Dairy Door
‘Their cheeses are made using locally produced milk from a Shropshire based Ayrshire herd, with exceptional butterfat and protein content. This gives the cheeses their creamy texture and flavour. Known for their Harleys halloumi style, St Bartie brie style and the Wenlock edge (wedge) gouda style. Plus, the Farley, feta style cheese. Their fudge is also made from the same milk and cream, together with British butter and British sugar, with no added artificial ingredients, giving it that authentic farmhouse flavour’ (Dairy Door website, 2025).
The Wyre Pie Company
‘Renowned British artisan butchers, known for crafting delicious pies using locally sourced ingredients. From conventional meat pies to innovative vegetarian options, they offer a wide range of mouth watering pastry creations as well as traditional butcher meat’ (The Wyre Pie Company website, 2025).
Wildjac Gin
‘Evolving Traditional Distilling techniques and embracing state of the art technology they have been able to reduce their carbon foot print and produce truly sustainable, eco-friendly spirits. They are constantly working to source the very highest quality botanicals & spices. Their passion is for homegrown and locally foraged ingredients from deep in the forest, this is where they are at their happiest. Douglas Fir from the forest and Lemon balm from their garden, the natural world around them influences and inspires them’ (Wildjac website, 2025).
Bewdston Preserves
‘Award winning preserves, handmade in Bewdley Worcestershire. Only the freshest high-quality ingredients sourced locally are used, wherever possible. All of the varieties are 100% homemade in small batches by the Chief Stirrer at home in the Wyre Forest. The brand now has 5 Great Taste Awards and hoping for more this year’ (Bewdston Preserves website, 2025).
Bee Biotic
‘Natural, healthy eco-friendly & sustainable products handcrafted by the beekeeper in Shropshire. Bee Biotic is the home of ‘Bee-Fresh’ Beeswax Food Wraps, natural beeswax & honey skincare, beeswax gifts & Shropshire Hills Honey’ (Bee Biotic website, 2025).
Sweet Lady Jayne
It all started with a biscuit, as inspiration. ‘For all the gooey, chocolatey stuff…. Sweet Lady Jayne is the place to go!!!’ (Cleobury Mortimer Famers Market, Instagram post, 2025).
www.instagram.com/samanthajayne_beauty
Elsies plants
‘Elsie and Terry have an amazing garden of about ½ an acre and its absolutely crammed with flowers and vegetables! Terry grows the veg and Elsie the flowers in the form of bedding plants, herbs and perennials! They have 3 massive poly tunnels, which starts off their season early and enables it to continue as the temperatures start to drop. In the spring every windowsill in their little bungalow is brimming with seed trays in various stages of germination! They manage to supply seasonal veg to the market from as early as March right through until October’ (Clare Todd, Centre Manager, Cleobury Country Ltd, 2025).
Augernik Fruit Farm
‘Seasonal growing of the following fruit & nuts organically on the 25-acre family farm.
Gooseberries, Raspberries, Cherries, Plums, Apples, Pears, Greengages, Damsons, Mirabelles, Autumn Raspberries, Cobnuts (hazelnuts), Walnuts and Chestnuts’ (Augernrik Fruit Farm Facebook profile, 2025).
The Doorstep Baker
Find the award-winning fresh sourdoughs, baguettes, sticky buns, bakes, flavoured breads and some gluten free loaves made in Bewdley, Worcestershire. All breads and bakes are produced by Cath Lloyd-Williams, the owner, using Gloucestershire Shipton Mill organic flours, agro-ecological principle flours and their range of gluten free flours. All flours are milled and packaged using Shipton Mill’s strict food allergy policy guidelines. Cath displays the loaf mark on her bread that complies with the Sustain alliance definition, of bread made with all natural ingredients and without the use of any processing aids, chemical leavening or other additives. In addition to this, Cath does not use any peanuts or tree nuts in her produce.
I hope this blog has encouraged you to try Cleobury Country Farmers Market or to have discovered more about some of the producers and Farmers. Please encourage people you know to come along and give us a try. And use the website links, in this blog, to explore so much more about each trader.
You are warmly invited to this covered market that encourages sustainability, relationships with customers and brings a feel of community. Nestled in St Mary’s Church, taking place the third Saturday of every month from 9.30pm-12pm. Cleobury Mortimer is 11 miles from Ludlow and Kidderminster on the A449 and St Mary’s Church is in the middle of the town (DY14 8BX for your sat nav). If you’re coming by car, make use of lots of free parking in their three car parks. While you’re there, visit the many independent retailers on the high street.
When you buy from a Farmers Market, the money stays within the local community, boosting the local economy. You can learn the practices that each producer uses, in order to make their products and you get to feed back what you enjoy and what you’d like to see more of. Hopefully you may just discover something that makes your life just that little bit brighter. And maybe you’ll consider joining in as a producer yourself.
Catherine Lloyd-Williams, July 2025.
Photo credit Catherine Lloyd-Williams, 2025
Learn more about Cleobury Country Farmers Market here https://www.cleoburycountryfarmersmarket.co.uk/
The Doorstep Baker 