Williamstown Farmers' Market

Williamstown Farmers' Market takes over Robertson Reserve on the second Sunday of each month, drawing around 40 farmers and producers to a suburban reserve on the corner of Cole and Hanmer Streets. It is operated by Regional Farmers Markets, which runs a circuit of monthly markets across Melbourne and regional Victoria on the principle of buying direct from the person who grew or made it.

Forty producers, once a month

The stall list stays close to the food-and-farm brief: fresh vegetables and fruit, bread from local bakers, free-range meats, jams, chutneys and preserves, coffee and hot food for people eating on site. Around the edges sit native plants and cut flowers and a handful of handcrafted goods, but the weight of the market is on things you can take home and cook.

Robertson Reserve is a residential-street park rather than a main-road site, which gives the market a neighbourhood feel: people walk in, buy a week's vegetables, sit with a coffee, and the dogs come too. The 2pm finish is unusually generous for a monthly farmers market and means it works as a late-morning outing rather than an early errand.

Good to know before you go

There is only one of these a month, so the second Sunday is the date to note. Trading runs 9am to 2pm at Robertson Reserve, off Cole Street in Williamstown, with street parking in the surrounding residential blocks and no dedicated car park, which is worth factoring in on a busy Sunday. Bring a bag or a trolley if a full produce shop is the plan.