The Merchant of Hoghton's Food Producers' Market

Hoghton Tower market has to be one of my favourites, it's go so much going for it.  To start with, it's got a fantastic location and venue, just going up the drive makes you think wow!

At the top of the drive, is Hoghton Tower, a Grade I listed building rebuilt in 1565 and with Victorian additions.

The market is just next door to this lovely fortified manor house.  It's a £1 to park your car, which I didn't mind at all as any event income raised by Hoghton Tower is in aid of the Hoghton Tower Preservation Trust.

The first business I stopped at is a hundred years old, and still growing (excuse their pun) was Wareings of Tarleton.

They've already had a few mentions in this blog, with spectacular displays of vegetables which are always colourful and different.

There's a bit of theatre at these events, like Honest Crust Pizza who were cooking pizzas in their wood fired oven with good local ingredients.

Some of the stands were outside, but many were in the old buildings:

You can buy ice cream and yoghurts direct from the producer, and plants:

In one of the buildings (which was a bit dark and too crowded to take good photos) were a lot of my favourite producers.  

I rather like the story of King James I knighting a particularly tasty loin of beef during a meal at Hoghton Tower, saying 'Arise, Sir Loin' (even if others say it was Mis-Steak).  

Anyway you could buy good sirloin, and other sorts of meat, from Great House Farm, Savin Hill Farm, and Spout House Farm 

If you like fish, and other seafood, there was Paul (who'd dressed up for the occassion) from Creative Seafoods:

There were way too many producers to give them all a mention, and I've missed out some really good ones (sorry)!  But I must give Rob Jackson, from Bolton, who was selling Jackson's Ice-cream a special mention:  

If you've read the link above (on Rob's name), you'll realise he's an interesting character.  Besides selling his home-made ice-cream, he was also selling Spicy Carrot and Red Lentil Soup, and Black Peas:

It's a a traditional Lancashire dish, sometimes called called maple peas, parched peas or pigeon peas.  They're offered in markets and at fairgrounds in this area, and eaten from a cup.  It's an interesting business model -if it's cold the soup and peas are popular, and if it's hot the ice-cream is popular!

I never got round to visiting Hoghton Tower, which I'd have liked to have seen, because I was on my way to Nigel Haworth's Fantastic Food Show just up the road in Burnley.  

Still it's great to have an extra excuse to go back to this lovely market...

Hoghton Tower
Preston
Lancashire
PR5 0SH

Tel: 01254 852 986

Web: www.hoghtontower.co.uk/gift-shop.html