Shops and markets

Cumbria Life interviewed me for a May 2010 article on Cumbria’s farm shops and I pointed out that farmers have always sold directly to customers in one way or another. When he saw the piece my Grandad phoned and told me about how he, aged 11, drove his mother in the horse and trap to sell butter on Kendal market.  His grandfather, also a butter selling farmer, had been involved in the establishment of Kendal’s market hall which was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. The butter market continued to be important until the Second World War when, my grandad said, all the milk was bought by the Milk Marketing Board. He’s 93 and still works most days on the farm.