Market manager Laurel Freeland said the market, which has been running for two months, had been well received. 

“It ticks all the boxes of living in connection with the land, eating fresh seasonal produce and providing opportunity for local farmers and artisans to sell their produce regionally.”

Held at The Woodshed in Daylesford, the market also comprises of an indoor café, gallery and artisans space.

Ms Freeland said people had appreciated the access to the region’s fresh food.

“Locals have told us that being able to shop weekly in the one space is great. Visitors can explore a huge array of goodies at the big market across the road, then cross to the intimacy of the accredited farmers market and get all the fresh produce they need to take back home.

“One visitor expressed with humour that their young ‘anti-vegetable’ son, devoured a whole bag of purple carrots on their way back to Echuca.

“Others love the music, the talking spaces, the informality of food and wine education and a warm space to relax after getting their weekly veggies,”  Ms Freeland said.

She said one of the unexpected bonuses of the market had been the opportunity to support the growth of micro arts businesses for young and older stallholders like Lee and Jackie, who sell their silversmith and gem jewellery at the market. 

Another success story is Two-Fold Bakery, run by stallholders Alison and Katie, two enterprising young women who are starting up a new bakery.

At their first market, they started with 50 loaves of bread and sold out in under an hour. Two months later and with the support of Red Beard Bakery in Trentham, the women have established a range of sourdough bread, rolls and fruit bread made from the region’s bio dynamic flours and grapes.

Ms Freeland said the market is now working to a weekly theme. For NAIDOC week, the market will celebrate indigenous history and bush foods.