Our Pop Up Farmers Market at Cardiff Met - Not Just For Students!
Six month of the year, Cardiff Farmers Markets run a pop up at the Llandaff campus of Cardiff Metropolitan University. These markets help the city’s student population get access to farm-fresh produce and meet new producers, but did you know that they are open to everyone - not just uni students and staff?
Here we catch up with Rachel Roberts, Sustainability Engagement Manager at Cardiff Metropolitan University, to find out more…
“Cardiff Farmers Markets have been coming to Cardiff Met for a good few years now, and it’s something that we know our staff and students really look forward to. We wanted to promote and support local businesses to the university and support our local food community, so we invite the pop up to come here once a month on a Tuesday (term times only).
We used to use the main thoroughfare in one of our buildings, but Covid meant that we had to move the markets outside - a set-up we’ve ended up keeping because it feels a bit more of a real Farmers Market vibe.
Half of the stalls at our monthly market are from Cardiff Farmers Market traders, but we also invite others to attend, as long as they keep to a sustainability theme. For instance, we have had Cardiff Council to talk about food waste and recycling; we've also recently had a clothes swap as part of the event - students could swap an item for a raffle ticket and use this to 'purchase' something else.
Clothes swap at the pop-up market
The market feels very integrated; students from our Centre for Entrepreneurship sometimes have a stall which means that they can have their first experience of trading for real, and also network with other stall holders. As we’re also growing our own Botanical Natural Dye Garden at the university, sometimes we have samples from this, and volunteers showing how this is going to develop as part of our School of Art.
Since the market moved outside, it has meant that we can also have street food traders at the pop up which is a real treat; the smell of delicious things cooking really helps to bring people in and it becomes a bit of a social hub - for staff, students and people from the local community to stop by for lunch. We always dress the frontage with flags to let people know it's a community day. There’s something here for everyone.”
The find out when the next pop up market at Cardiff Met takes place, click here.
Non-food stalls with a sustainable slant who are interested in taking part in the Cardiff Met monthly market can make an enquiry by contacting Rachel on sustainability@cardiffmet.ac.uk.