England through the eyes of an American - Market Day

I love the market. I never experienced anything like this when I was back home. That doesn't say that it doesn't exist. Its just saying that it didn't exist in any of the places I lived or that I was to young to appreciate them if they did :)

In the town where I live market day is every Tuesday and Saturday. I often take the children to school and head straight to the market to walk around for a couple of hours, which is what I did today. I thought I would take you on a tour of the Market in my lovely town of Tamworth which is about 12 miles outside of Birmingham.

Here is what I see when I first approach the market. Loads of market stalls. They line the streets and are full of in expensive market goodness :)

Here are a few more stalls at the back of our market. If you click on the picture you can see how diverse the market is. At the front is a fresh produce. Next to that they were selling gardening plants. Back a bit further is handbags in one stall, clothing in one and cushions in another. Any one fancy some fruit? Any bowl £1.00

Ahhh yes all that fresh baked bread goodness. The British LOVE their bread. There are so many different types of bread. Man I am so going to miss this. Oh and by the way ITS CHEAP!! A loaf of bread will set you back 85p for the really nice stuff. Which is only $1.30 Yummy!

A trip to the market wouldn't be a trip to the market without the Butcher shouting out his wonderful prices on the loud speaker. "Hey you, there in the green top you need some sausages don't you? Awe come one fresh lovely British Pork Sausages 6 for £1.50 bargain" Yep that is the lovely butcher.
And the newsagents as we call them here. They sell all the magazines and newspapers available in the UK.

There are loads of sweets stalls. This one is one of our favorites because they sell yummy cakes along with loads of yummy sweets.
When the children come with me to the market this is the first place we have to go... DONUTS!! We get 6 donuts for £1.50 and they are delicious. He makes then right there in front of you. Oh man Krispy Kreme has nothing on the market donut man!
When I first moved here I loved walking to the market at the end of the day when the produce stalls were about to close. There would be 2 or 3 men trying to sell off everything because they knew it wouldn't be fresh come next market do so they would be shouting "BANANA'S GET YOUR BANANA'S 1 HAND 50p" or "MUSHROOMS, WHOLE BOX OF MUSHROOMS £1.00" Once I bought a whole box of mushrooms and then when I got home thought what am I going to do with these now?

Clothing is so cheap in the market. There are probably about 15 stalls in our market of just clothing. They sell everything from trousers, tops, skirts, socks and underwear even Lingerie.

Another one of my favorite things in the market is all the performers. There is always someone playing an instrument or a mime doing a performance. Sometimes there are animals from various charities. The children LOVE putting money in their pots.

A trip to the market is never complete for me without a visit to our charity shops. I never like charity shops until I moved here and I am certain that is because I am now a bit older and can appreciate all the crafty and lovely goodness a charity shop has to offer. It is so true when they say one mans junk is another mans treasure.

Well I hope that you enjoyed my trip to town today. I loved it and I am sad that I only have two more weeks to visit. I am going to have to make sure to make the most of the market over the next two weeks.