The day started bright and sunny, if a bit on the cool side. Minimum temp here in the mountains was about 3 degrees. Expected max today is 15. At least it’s not raining.
Our first plan of business was to visit one of the local Farmer’s Markets. We had heard about the Mt Pleasant one so planned to go there, but this morning I met our neighbor. He’s a permanent here and is a local tour guide. He recommended we go to the Barossa Farmer’s Market in Angaston instead as it’s much better (“Most of the chefs in the area shop there”). He also suggested we hurry. We quickly bundled into the car and drove the 30 minutes to the shed where it’s held every Sat getting there around 8:30.
(He also recommended Seppeltsfield as the best winery in the region to visit. We plan to go there tomorrow.)
Teresa headed on in for what she called ‘an hour of bliss’.
There were a huge variety of stalls. Outside, there were a couple of fresh food vendors (strawberries, tomatoes, avacados, fruit, eggs). Inside there was a baker, several cured meat stalls (including Maggie Beer’s daughter, Saskia, where we bought some chorizo), local dried fruit, cakes, chocolates, coffee. There were also vendors for meat: chicken, pork (we bought a shoulder to roast, bacon, Italian sausages and cream – he has cows to produce milk to feed the pigs) and beef.
Teresa loved talking to the genuinely passionate vendors – they know their product and love talking about it. She appreciated the market was relatively small as well as having good ventilation so she didn’t need to rush out. There was a lively passionate vibe – everyone was smiling!
They cook a magnificent breakfast too (we heard too late… we’d already eaten). There were long lines for food, which I guess is an indication of how good they were.
Teresa’s most memorable comment: “I left flying and grinned for the rest of the day”
Because we had the dog, we couldn’t go in together. Instead, I took Leo on a long walk around the local countryside for the 50 minutes Teresa was shopping, taking artistic photos of grapevines, and reading some of the history of the area on the rail trail billboards.
Angaston
Next, we headed to Angaston and visited the Barossa Cheese shop. Teresa picked up a few cheeses to try. She also checked out the nearby Foodworks which was surprisingly very well stocked.
South Australia has a no plastic bag policy, which surprised us when we first encountered it at Renmark. Fortunately we had some spare bags in the caravan, and have been using those ever since.
Barossa Sculpture Park
Not yet wanting to head home (it was only around 10am), we decided to do some more sight-seeing. Teresa had picked up a brochure of the Angaston area and we found a photo opportunity – the Barossa Sculpture Park. These are stone sculptures created during a sculpture festival in 1988 that have been moved to this magnificent site on top of the hill.
By this time it was almost noon, and we thought we’d be able to get to the other market at Mount Pleasant by the time they closed. We made it, but just – they were packing up. We made the right choice – the Barossa Farmer’s Market was the better one.
We swung by Birdwood and a supermarket before heading home for a relaxing afternoon.