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Christmas at the time of Corona virus

This coming Saturday, 12 December, is the day that Hexham would normally host the popular Christmas Market, but you will not be surprised to learn that a market which sees cars queuing on the A69 to get into town and people thronging in the streets of Hexham is something that we cannot entertain this year.

However, we welcome your support  for local businesses both at the market and in Hexham itself, so we will have our usual farmers’ market this weekend, Saturday 12 December.  As has been the case since we reopened in June, stalls will be well spaced out and we’ll have volunteer stewards on hand to help manage any queues and remind people to stick with their social distancing. Many stallholders will be wearing their masks or other face coverings and many of our customers now also wear their mask when they come to shop.  The market will run between 9am and 1.30 pm, so our usual time.  Beaumont Street (from the Abbey Dental Clinic) and Market Street will be closed to most traffic while the market is on, so you will have plenty of space to keep your distance.  We’ll have stalls on the Market Place itself, around the Abbey and in the Abbey Car Park on Beaumont Street.  If you’re unsure about where to find any particular stallholder, please ask one of the stewards. You can also find a plan of the market on the 12th of December here.

I’m sure you hardly need reminding that all the independent shops in Hexham will welcome your custom at this important time of the year.  All our town centre shops have had a difficult year so your shopping pounds will be doubly welcome this Christmas.

Restoration work on Hexham Abbey

Hexham Abbey recently received the brilliant news that they’d been awarded a substantial grant to start resoration work on the Abbey roof. We understand from the Abbey staff that the vergers know exactly where to put the buckets when it rains and this work is expected to make the roof entirely watertight again.

While this is excellent news for Hexham Abbey it does mean that we will no longer be able to use the area on the North side of the Abbey along the footpath to The Sele.  As usual the Abbey have been extremely helpful and we will continue to use the area in front of the Abbey and along Beaumont Street next to the Christmas Tree.  For one of the markets in December we hope to be able to use the Abbey car park or the Quadrant.

The work on Hexham Abbey is expected until Easter 2021.

 

Lockdown 2 and how it affects your market

England went back into a second lockdown in early November with non-essential shops and hospitality required to close.  Fortunately farmers’ markets are exempt from the restrictions but the regulations do affect some of our producers with only food producers allowed to trade.  Sadly Durham Soap Company, Tim Foxall spatulas and Philippa Hodkinson Flowers will not be able to join us this month. However, Tim Foxall and Durham Soap Company both sell online and you can find their respective websites by following the links from their names.

We are extremely happy to be able to bring you a farmers’ market, even with a reduced number of producers, but we do urge all our customers to stick with the rules:

  • If you have any COVID symptoms, please stay at home and get a test, as per the recommendations;
  • Keep to social distancing (2m) between yourself and other customers and between you and our producers;
  • Sanitise your hands frequently
  • Queue responsibly
  • Please shop alone if you can

Although wearing of masks isn’t compulsory we welcome it if you do.

Thank you for your patience and your cooperation.

Market expands again on 25 July 2020

The recovery of Hexham Farmers’ Market is taking another step forward on Saturday 25 July, with the very welcome return of Cumberland Mustard, Northumbria Preserves and Stonehouse Smokery.  There will be 20 stalls in total covering just about all products that you might expect at a farmers’ market.

As is now becoming the norm, the market will be on two sides of Hexham Abbey as well on the Market Place and in fact there will be more stalls on the Abbey Flags than on the Market Place. Because of the larger area, you might not see the usual stalls in their familiar places, but chances are that they will be there somewhere: don’t go home empty handed, but ask one of the other stallholders or one of the stewards.

Face coverings became compulsory in shops and other enclosed public space on Friday 24 July. However, as Hexham farmers Market is not an enclosed space, face coverings are welcome, but not required. Our usual CV19 measures continue to apply: Please keep 2m apart, limit the number of people at a stall, regularly sanitise your hands and be patient. We look forward to seeing you there between 9am and 1.30pm.

Hexham Farmers’ Market extends again

As we slowly get back to some sort of normality Hexham Farmers’ Market will extend a bit further again this Saturday, 11 July, when a number of stalls will be positioned on the Abbey Flags both at the east and the north side of the Abbey. We will have 17 trading stalls and will see the very welcome return this week of the Durham Soap Company from Lanchester, Tim Foxall spatulas from Haltwhistle and Mawbray Cheese from Cumbria.

Our prime aim is to keep both customers and stallholders safe so we ask that you maintain social distancing at 2m, queue responsibly (also at 2m) and regularly sanitise your hands.  There will be hand sanitiser available at a stall on the Abbey Flags as well as at several of the producer stalls.

The farmers’ market on Saturday 11 July 2020 runs between 9am and 1.30pm.

Farmers’ Market on Saturday 27 June 2020

After a successful if cautious restart on 13 June, we will be back in slightly expanded form on 27 June 2020.  We have chosen to maintain the 2m distance between stalls to allow for social distancing of people shopping, to keep our stallholders safe and to allow for small, distanced queues at each stall should that be necessary. Thanks to Hexham Abbey we can extend the market on the 27th across Beaumont Street to include the Abbey Flags and you will find five stalls across the road.

Please maintain the clockwise circulation system, sanitise your hands regularly and keep your 2m distance.  We continue to allow stallholders and customers to make up their own minds about face coverings: as we understand it, the risk related to transfer of the corona virus outdoors remains slim and the UK government does not currently advise to use face coverings at outdoor markets.  You can see our updated risk assessment here and we welcome any comments.

Producers at the market on 27 June will be: Muckle Brewing, Ravensworth Grange, Middlemay Lamb, Spicy Monkey and Philippa Hodkinson (with her Northumberland-grown cut flowers) as well as Askerton Castle Estate, Bread and Roses Bakery, Bluebell Organics, Murphy’s Kitchen, Hexham Country Markets, Northumberland Honey and Mead, Noisette Catering, Hallsford Farm and North Shore Patisserie.

We look forward to see you there!