If someone had said to me 10 years, 5 years or even 2 years ago that I would soon be finding myself spending at least half my weekends each year on a market stall, my next utterance would have been to ask if they’d taken something of the mood enhancing variety. Early morning starts and cross-country driving to put ourselves completely out there were not at all what Mr DCB and I had in mind for the early years of our marriage. One year on (give or take a few days) since our very first market, and I think we now consider ourselves market traders, albeit of a part-time, slightly-cheating-because-we-both-have-other-jobs variety.
Yesterday we were back at Duckpond Market in Ruislip, and there’s something about it that we both just really love. The atmosphere is so warm and welcoming, the other traders are all super-friendly and for the most part it’s nearly always a success for us. We’ve built up some lovely regular customers and it really feels like coming home. Of course it’s nice to do the very different events that we’ve had a taster of over the past year, and there will be many more of those to come in 2010, but it takes a lot to beat DPM.
If you’re local and you’ve never been then SHAME ON YOU!! The emphasis at this place is very much on shopping locally, and if I’m honest, there’s very little that you would need to get anywhere else. From fresh bread and cakes to olives and steak sandwiches; from toys to crafts to cosmetics to gifts and cards, there is something for everyone here. It’s FREE, easily accessible and there is adjacent parking – it’s really such a fab day out. Running from 10am to 3pm the 3rd Sunday of each month, swing by some time and say hello, we’d love to see you!