Farmers Market

We braved the heavy rain and cold conditions to visit the Kapiti Farmers Market in Otaki – it has definitely turned into rain jacket weather, and a wooly hat was needed for those of us who don’t have much hair on top of their heads.  We were told that this market is a fairly new venture, so still has lots of room to grow.

Luckily, by the time we had arrived, the rain had stopped, and most of the sellers had sensibly relocated indoors.  The market was held in the Otaki Race Course grounds, dotted with many lovely mature trees.

I’m always rather taken with tasty treats, so we gravitated to the cheese stall.  After several tastings we had made our choices, purchasing one of the cute little round smoked cheeses at the back, and a piece of blue vein cheese, so yummy.  The owners told us that the make the baby smoked cheeses themselves, and all the other large rounds are imported from Italy.

Lots of lovely cheeses here

I love cheese and Robin loves honey, so he just had to purchase some local honey from the next stand – that will keep him happy.  The particular honey he purchased is from hives on Kapiti Island - one of the largest accessible island bird sanctuaries in New Zealand, set in one of the nation’s most valuable nature reserves.

At the honey stand

One of the local market gardeners had a stand, very handy as I needed some more fresh veggies.  With our shopping done we stopped off on the way home to our friends home, phoning through first to ensure that they were home and that the coffee was on.  Thanks very much,  hot coffee was just what we needed on such a chilly morning.