Bream Creek Farmer's Market

The Bream Creek Farmers Market has run on the first Sunday of every month since December 2012, and it is still run entirely by a volunteer committee. That detail explains most of what the market is: no promoter takes a cut, the stall list is built around who is actually producing in the district, and the venue is the local showground rather than a hired site.

What south eastern Tasmania puts on a table

The stall mix is broad in the way a regional produce market has to be. Seasonal fruit and vegetables sit alongside honey, olive oils, nuts, seedlings and plants, condiments, jams and preserves, with baked goods and cakes, ready-to-eat snacks and lunches, and take-home meals covering the eating end. Wines, ginger beers and ciders reflect a part of Tasmania that grows a lot of fruit, and there is coffee, because a 9am start on a showground in winter demands it. The people behind the stalls are described the way the market describes them: growers, cooks, brewers, producers and makers.

The showground setting is worth understanding before you arrive. This is a working agricultural showground on the road between Copping and Marion Bay, not a town square, so the market sits in open country with sheds and rings around it and the space to spread out that a village hall could never offer.

Good to know before you go

Trading is 9am to 1pm and the drive from Hobart takes about 40 minutes, so leaving at 8.30am gets you there while the stalls are full. Navigate to Copping on the Arthur Highway, then take Marion Bay Road; the showground is a few kilometres along and is not visible from the highway. Bring cash as well as a card, and bring bags and a cool bag if you are buying meat or dairy for the drive back. Dress for open country: the showground offers little shelter, and a first-Sunday date in July is a different experience from one in January. If you are heading on towards Marion Bay or the Tasman Peninsula afterwards, the market sits directly on the route. This is Paredarerme country.