We love buying our food locally whenever we can and where better to do so than at a farmers' market, buying directly from local growers and producers. A couple of weeks ago it was Orton's turn.
The Cumbrian village of Orton holds monthly farmers markets with about 40 stalls. The whitewashed cottages and the imposing 16th century church provide a perfect backdrop while browsing and buying vegetables, cheese, breads, pickles and plants, all from local sources and much of it organic.
We like supporting local business although we're not obsessive about food miles: if we were, we'd spend the winter months living on potatoes. But we do believe that the most important things are freshness and flavour - and that often leads us to farmers' markets and local farm shops. With all this abundance, why would anyone want to buy skinny asparagus flown in from Peru?