Bilpin Community Markets and Cafe
A two-hour Saturday morning market in the Bilpin District Hall on Bells Line of Road, with its own kitchen cafe running alongside the stalls.
About this market
The Bilpin Community Markets run for two hours. Ten in the morning until noon, every Saturday, in the Bilpin District Hall on Bells Line of Road, and that compressed window is the defining fact about them. This is a mountain village market that exists for the people who live along the ridge, not a destination event built to hold visitors for a morning, and it moves at the pace of a hall that has to be cleared by lunchtime.
Orchard country on a trestle table
Bilpin is apple country, and the stalls reflect the growing that happens around them: freshly picked local organic produce, in-season fruit and vegetables, and the things you make when you have more fruit than you can eat, meaning jams, chutneys, preserves and in-season fruit pies. Alongside those sit freshly baked cakes, local honey, plants and flowers, handmade woollen items, local crafts, bric-a-brac and environmentally friendly cleaning products. The market runs its own kitchen cafe through the same two hours, serving espresso coffee, brunch and sweets, which turns a quick shop into somewhere to sit down.
Market at a glance
A $10 undercover stall is close to the cheapest rate you will find anywhere, and it explains the character of the floor. At that price a hobbyist with a box of preserves or a knitter with a season's work can take a table without doing sums first, which is why the stall list looks like a village rather than a market circuit.
Look across the road on a Saturday and there is a second thing worth stopping for: The Picket Fence at 2605 Bells Line of Road, opposite the hall, opens Saturdays and sells work by local artisans behind a pink picket fence.
Good to know before you go
Two hours is not long. Leaving Sydney at 9am will not get you there in time, so this needs to be either an early start or a stop on the way back from somewhere further along Bells Line of Road. The hall is on the main road through Bilpin, so it is easy to find and easy to drive straight past. Bring cash, because a village hall market with $10 stalls is not a card-reader environment. Bring bags and a box if you are buying fruit. If you are making a day of it, the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah is further along the same road and free to enter. This is Darug and Wiradjuri country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Bilpin market on?
- Every Saturday, 10am to 12 noon. It is a short two hour window, so arriving late means arriving after it has packed up.
- Is there anywhere to eat?
- Yes. The market runs its own kitchen cafe serving espresso coffee, brunch and sweet treats alongside the stalls.
- How much does a stall cost?
- Undercover stalls are $10, and new stallholders are welcome.