Fresh from the farm

A glorious summer bloom means a bumper crop for the city's farmers' markets and the Bank Holiday weekend means we've ample time to sample.

Take a walk down the supermarket aisles and you'll find fare that's been languishing for weeks and in some cases months.

Visit a farmers' market, however, and you'll find wild mushrooms fresh from the ground only hours ago, fresh West Country seafood, wild fennel and vine-ripened tomatoes.

Chances are that your vendor will not only be able to tell you how your meat and veg were reared, but also its history, how to use it in the kitchen and, if you're a real glutton, its nickname.

Farmers' markets differ from fine markets such as Borough by ensuring that producers come from within 100 miles of the M25, and that all vendors either grow, make or rear everything they sell.

Most fare will be additive and pesticide-free, more often than not organic, and will have a clear identity - not a chemical legacy.

Unlike the supermarkets, farmers' markets will be tightly bound to seasons. And unpredictable seasons such as this summer and the greenhouse effect means responsive planting.

Chris Savva has farmed his 100 acres in Barnet for more than 14 years. 'But this year I've adapted to take into account the changes in the weather patterns,' he says.

Savva now grows Mediterranean Muscat dessert grapes and figs. 'Our apple crop's been brought forward four weeks, and the sweetcorn season's already in full swing.'

Veteran market-goers know August brings new-season lamb and venison, choice cuts of organic beef, wild duck and ostrich, and invariably oysters.

Fruit stalls will bulge with bilberries, elderberries, rosehip and 'autumn bliss' raspberries, miniature flat peaches, and, if you're lucky, a green watermelon (inject it, over a few hours with some vodka, cut, then eat). Vegetables on offer include sea spinach, dandelions, nettles and samphire.