Photo Diary: Portobello Market

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, why not play at being a tourist and have a wander down Portobello Road. You'll find everything from fine antique books to boutique fashion, handmade jewellery and loads of vintage finds. It's great for people watching and there are tons of yummy eats too. Just make sure to get there early - it's not exactly a hidden gem and by midday the hordes of tourists have decended.

Last weekend I reacquainted myself with Portobello, one of my favourite London markets, and took the opportunity to play with my new DSLR.

Support local, buy local: market shopping at its best!

Don't get me wrong, I've spent many a blissful hour browsing the range of goodies at the Sands End Sainsbury's, but there is something uniquely special about buying your groceries at a market. There's something about seeing the plethora of fruit and veg, colours and flavours, lovingly laid out, weighed out and shouted about by the store-holders, many of whom are working a pitch their family has held for generations. One of my favourite Saturday morning activities is to check out the stalls on the North End Road, and I'm also a massive fan of the market on Duke of York Square, so I was delighted to hear that Parson's Green is to play host to a Farmer's Market of its own.

Starting this Sunday, and every Sunday thereafter, the Parson's Green Farmers Market will run from 10am - 2pm at the New Kings Road Junior School. The event is run by London Farmer's Markets and participating farms include SJ Taylor Free Range Veal, Chegworth Valley juice and fruit, and the Handpicked Shellfish Company. There will be a range of produce including freshly pressed juice, delicious organic & outdoor reared meat, new season game, dairy, plants & flowers, hand made preserves, raspberries, new season apples and pears, herbs, wet fish and shellfish, free range eggs, and the freshest vegetables and salads.

Most importantly, stall holders all farm within 100 miles of London and they are all vetted before being giving the OK to hold a stall to make sure they uphold the highest of standards. Quality local produce for local people then!

Gobbling Chelsea, at Duke of York Square Market

Having got a taste for the hustle and bustle of North End Road market, and wanting to take a stroll to enjoy last Saturday's sunshine, I decided to amble along the King's Road to the area's decidedly more 'polished' market. Each weekend, throngs of people congregate in Duke of York Square to meander around the Chelsea food market, sampling global cuisine from Brazilian to Portuguese, picking at all sorts of sweet treats from crepes to cupcakes and enjoying all the treats that the various stalls have to offer.

Whilst the North End Road offers a more authentic local market experience, and real fruit and veg bargains to boot, Chelsea market boasts a variety and sophistication that rivals the famous Broadway market in Hackney, with prices significantly lower than the notorious Borough market. Whether your a health nut or a chocoholic, all bases are covered, and there seemed to be plenty of both present last Saturday - the largest queues were for Rainforest Creations (an exotic vegetarian salad stall) and for the plentiful cupcake and patisserie stalls. 

Also on offer is organic fruit and veg, a variety of pickles, chutneys and conserves, Brazilian, Portuguese (the smell of rocket and chorizo buns gave me hunger pangs all day), Jamaican, Thai, pancakes, fresh juice, fresh oysters, fish, organic meat, pies, cheeses and everything in between. Arrive with an empty stomach: I guarantee you'll find enough to eat lunch four times over!

Borough what? Hitting the North End Road Market

Having promised myself a quiet (and crucially, cheap) local weekend I found myself waking on Saturday morning and wondering how I could pass a morning productively, fill my fridge and research a blog post - all the while avoiding a deathly dull supermarket trip (Sainsbury's - you're great - but the Saturday morning 'family-shopping' hour is just too hectic).

I rarely meander up to Fulham Broadway of a weekend just for the sake of exploration, and even more rarely venture towards North End Road. However, just I was setting off for a little stroll - namely to satisfy a random craving for frozen yoghurt (more on that later) - I had the good fortune to remember a friend's recent recommendation that I ought to give the North End Road market a try.

I confess, I wasn't expecting much. My most recent memories of the North End Road include seeing an Iceland, various pound stores and (most exciting of all) a shut-down outpost of TOWIE's infamous Sugar Hut. Yet, the North End Road is a rough gem in a borough that often seems a little over-manicured and yuppy. Apparently, most of the market pitches have been in the same families for generations (the market has been running since the 1880s) and the bargains you get are unbelievable. Most of the stalls are for fresh fruit and veg, although the odd home bric-a-bric stall is peppered in and there is also a French cheese monger, a fishmonger and a few fresh juice and falafel carts. The whole street has a wonderful, vibrant hurly burly about it as shoppers jostle their way into rough queues and stallholders hawk their wares and call for refills. The variety of fruit and veg is amazing - and most sell at £1 per medium sized bowl (I found it much better value than the supermarket). Local shops really thrive on market day too, and Dickinson's the butchers had customers queuing half way down the block. I also frequented a really friendly Mediterranean deli.

If you're most at home in the sanitised environment of M&S then the tustle of the market may not be for you, but it's a fantastic way to spend a morning whilst loading up on cheap, healthy food to boot. As for me, I'm thinking of turning it into a weekend ritual. Just look at everything I picked up for just over £10.