Farmers Markets were once the preserve of Hunter welly-wearing outdoorsy types seeking homegrown veg, good bread and decent cheese from local producers.
More recently though, as these weekend markets, held in villages, towns and cities across the UK, have become more fashionable, their artisan goods are attracting a very different kind of shopper, one who’s more TikTok than twee.
Following on from taking trips to idyllic Cotswolds villages, rural pumpkin patches and the five-star London hotels, the influencer, it seems, has found yet another middle class favourite pasttime to glean for ‘content’.
And with spring just around the corner, the nation’s social media stars are making for the markets.
Expect to find them amongst the wax jackets and the well-spoken voguing next to organic vegetables, posing up a storm with hunks of parmesan or chowing down on a just-baked cookie, all while the camera rolls.
One influencer ready to produce shop is Em Sheldon, who has 139,000 followers on Instagram.
A recent post saw the social media star dedicating a entire weekend to London’s farmers markets, shunning Notting Hill’s more famous Portobello Market in favour of more rustic options.
She posted: ‘The girlies in London are doing markets properly: Pimlico farmers’ market on Saturday, Duke of York Square market after Marylebone farmers’ market on Sunday – skip the Portobello Road chaos.’
Influencer Georgia Barry, who has over 61,000 followers on TikTok, showed off the delights of The Goods Shed in Canterbury, saying of the Kent foodie spot ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen somewhere so beautiful in my entire life’
Scottish TikToker Amy Fyffe shared her Sunday trip to Chatelherault Country Park farmer’s market in South Lanarkshire
Digital creator Em Sheldon, who has 139,000 followers on Instagram, has also praised farmers’ markets, saying ‘The girlies in London are doing markets properly’
Georgia Barry, who has over 61,000 followers on TikTok, and recently swapped out life in London for Barbados, shared a trip to a Farmers’ Market in the historic cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent.
Clearly entranced by the novelty of the experience, Barry is seen wandering the artisan market, known as The Goods Shed, in apparent rapture.
Whizzing her phone around as she marvels at the goodies on display – whilst also chasing her toddler, the influencer gushes: ‘If there was one thing that could convince me to move to the countryside then it would be this farmers’ market.’
She continues at a pace: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen somewhere so beautiful in my entire life. This is my new favourite hang-out spot, the walls! The windows! Everything was so beautiful but most importantly the fresh baked goods’.
While many liked Barry’s clip, one person did point out that: ‘Canterbury isn’t the country!’
Fresh food markets can also compete with the catwalk it seems, with fashion-led influencers using the retail spots to show off sartorial looks.
Instagrammer Such.a.sasha posted a trip last summer of a visit to a London farmers’ market captioning the series of highly stylised photos with the words: ‘Dressing up and going to the farmers market is my kind of Sunday.’
While other shoppers at the market might have brought a old Waitrose bag along to carry produce, the trendy Londoner opted for a chic £450 Loewe basket tote bag to transport her organic purchases, including carrots, kale, tomatoes and apple juice.
Farmers’ markets are famously expensive, which is a good look if you’re an influencer
Norfolk content creator @annalise_durrant shared her trip to Blackbarn Farm, which has more than 70 local food, drink and craft stall holders
Instagrammer such.a.sasha is a regular at London’s farmers’ markets…but eschews a carrier bag in favour of a £450 Loewe tote
What’s inspiring people to create content that’s wholesome in every way?
The farmers’ market suggests an aspirational life that influencers strive to buy into, enjoying the message such content sends to followers.
If you can afford to pay £7 for an artisan sourdough and £4 for a miso caramel and tahini cookie, then there’s an allusion of wealth, which potentially brings more followers, which, in turn, brings more collaborations and more work.
Other middle class mainstays that have been targeted by influencers?
The afternoon tea, particularly at any one of the capital’s five-star hotels, have millions of social media pages dedicated to them.
Salubrious rural pursuits that make for scenic footage are also a winner: see strawberry and pumpkin patches and tulip and lavender fields.
The Cotswolds have become the content creator’s favourite English holiday spot…but the year-round pursuit of content has incurred the wrath of locals on many occasions.
Cotswold district councillor Jon Wareing last year raged against the selfie hunters who he says are infiltrating picturesque spots including Bibury, Stow-on-the-Wold and ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ Bourton-on-the-Water.
He fumed to BBC News: ‘This kind of visitor tends to have little real interest in the heritage, culture or natural environment they are exploiting for clicks.
Wholesome content in every way: artisan stalls are the latest upmarket source of content for many influencers
‘It’s a combination of over-tourism and fast tourism, which refers to people flocking to honeypot locations for the sole purpose of content creation,’ Councillor Wareing added.
He described the over tourism in the area as ‘so destructive for our community and is deeply worrying’.
One local though, 30-year-old Emily James from Cirencester, argued posting photos and videos on social media is not ‘necessarily a negative thing’ as long as content creators are ‘giving back to the community’.
She said: ‘A lot of things are done for likes nowadays and all of these platforms.
‘If you are going to do that [TikToks] here at least give back to the community. That’s what I would do.
‘I am strolling around taking photos but obviously I have been in the shops and bought a few bits and bobs and I think that’s what’s important.’
Some even suggested TikTok coverage of the area should be seen in a positive light if it is helping to promote Bourton-on-the-Water.
