Fresh market produce at Mildenhall market day. (Kat Nickola)
Being stationed in England means living in an agriculturally rich region, giving your family access to delicious local produce.
To find out what was in season one sunny Friday morning in May, I wandered around the Mildenhall town square. It was market day and a large stall was full of red beets, carrots and plenty of leafy greens. There were also freshly baked breads, jams and local honey.
Like many places across England, Mildenhall is a market town that still has an open-air market tradition that began in the Middle Ages. In the 1100s, as walled towns with castles expanded, officially chartered markets provided a boost for growing urban economies while also giving local farm families and artisans a consistent income source. Traveling peddlers and merchants would show up, as would interesting buskers and bards sharing the breaking news of the day. The weekly market was also a great place to meet with friends and catch up on the town gossip.
Locally grown strawberries at Mildenhall market day. (Kat Nickola)
Today, small town markets like the one in Mildenhall offer a handful of stalls. You can expect fresh, local produce, so it is a great way to stock your kitchen for the week. But there is so much more: local jams or honey, plants for your own garden, hot food vendors, tools, crafts, flea-market wares and even repair services are on offer.
Sizeable towns like Bury St. Edmunds near RAF Lakenheath or St Ives near RAF Alconbury have large weekly markets with many produce, fish, meat, dairy and bakery stalls, plus a wide variety of other vendors and artisans. There are also larger monthly craft or farmers markets. Not far from RAF Croughton and RAF Fairford, the Moreton-in-Marsh weekly market is the largest in the Cotswolds.
Big cities have daily markets where you can shop for produce, food, local wares, used items and more. Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford have great daily markets. n
The large Cambridge market is open daily. (Kat Nickola)
To find local markets, it’s best to search the local county, district or city council websites.
• West Suffolk markets (Tri-base area)
• Huntingdonshire markets (near RAF Alconbury)
• Oxfordshire markets (near RAF Croughton)
• Wiltshire markets (near RAF Fairford)
