Marylebone Winter Farmers Market Picker: Sunday Stall Order

Marylebone Farmers' Market began in June 2003 in a car park behind the High Street, and it has since grown into one of the flagship sites of the London Farmers' Markets network. It trades every Sunday, rain or shine, on a set of quiet side streets just west of the shops, which makes it the anchor of any Marylebone winter farmers market picker. The real question is not where to go but in what order to shop when the stalls are busy and daylight is short.

For years regulars knew the market as the Cramer Street car park gathering. When that site changed, the stalls relocated a few streets over to St Vincent Street and Aybrook Street, where they now line the kerb on both sides. The move changed the feel: it now reads as one long street walk under mansion block windows rather than a grid of tables on tarmac. Baker Street and Bond Street stations are both a short walk away.

Arrive soon after the stalls open and go straight to the protein. The market page says fish comes direct from its own fishermen and lists game in season, flagged on the organisers' calendar as an autumn arrival. These are the stalls that sell through soonest on a cold Sunday, because cooks plan roasts around them. If you have ordered a turkey for December, collect it early so you are not carrying a heavy bird through the whole market.

Once the fish is wrapped, move to produce. Regular growers named on the market page include Brambletye Fruit Farms, Perry Court Farm, Riverdale Organic Farm, Akiki Organics, Chegworth Valley and Wild Country Organics. The Potato Shop is singled out as a perennial favourite, with varieties you will not see in a supermarket. In winter the calendar points to celery as the nights draw in and root vegetables after the new year. Buy dense roots first, then softer greens last so nothing gets crushed at the bottom of the bag.

By the middle of the morning most serious shoppers have their essentials, and the queue for hot food builds. The market page highlights free range sausages, which on a raw morning means something to eat standing up before the walk home. Pick up bread and anything sweet now, while loaves are still plentiful. If you are shopping with children, the organisers suggest Paddington Street Gardens nearby for a rest and a run around the playground.

If you only have half an hour, skip the browsing lap and the ready-to-eat stalls. They are pleasant, but they are not why this market matters in winter. Focus on fish, game and the growers' vegetables, which are hard to match elsewhere in central London on a Sunday. Equally, do not leave it to the final stretch hoping for bargains, because many winter stalls are thin by then and some producers pack away early.

When Sunday is taken, Notting Hill Farmers' Market fills a school playground off Notting Hill Gate on Saturdays. It is one of the network's oldest markets, dating from September 1999, and it lists unpasteurised milk and cream from Hurdlebrook, vegetables from Wild Country Organics, Perry Court Farm, Ted's Veg, Brambletye Farm and Chegworth Valley, seasonal flowers from Grange Nursery and honey from Bee Friendly. From Marylebone, ride the Circle line to Notting Hill Gate.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Bloomsbury Lunch Farmers' Market trades in the university quarter, temporarily at the southern end of Woburn Square behind SOAS while works continue at its usual site. It is a lunch market first, so think dosas, pasta and pizza made with local ingredients rather than a vegetable shop. From Marylebone it is a brisk walk along Euston Road, or a few stops on the Circle line to Euston Square.

Because the stalls sit on open side streets between tall mansion blocks, the wind funnels along the street on cold mornings and the pavement stays damp in the shade. Wear shoes that cope with puddles and gloves you can still count coins in. A thermos is a good idea if you plan to linger. As the low sun climbs it reaches only one side of the street, so stand on that side while you queue.

A winter Sunday here belongs to locals. Expect neighbours with wheeled baskets and wicker trugs, parents pushing buggies towards the gardens, and chefs from nearby kitchens filling crates. The market welcomes well behaved, friendly dogs, so you will step around a few spaniels by the meat stalls. Regulars chat with growers they have known for years, which is one reason the queues move slower than at a supermarket checkout, and why the market feels like a village green in the middle of the West End.

A Sunday haul should carry you to Thursday. Roast a free range bird or game on Sunday, use the carcass for stock on Monday, and turn roots into soup or a gratin midweek. Potatoes, celeriac and apples will keep in a cool cupboard. Celery and leafy greens should be used in the first three days. Apple juice from Chegworth Valley keeps unopened, so a couple of bottles cover breakfasts through the week.

The organisers point to cash machines along Marylebone High Street, and some stallholders take cards. If you drive, avoid resident bays on the surrounding streets. Bring your own bags and containers, as London Farmers' Markets encourages shoppers to cut plastic, and stalls will fill a box you bring. Not every stall attends every week, so a favourite producer may skip one Sunday.

Heavy rain rarely closes the market, but it thins the stalls and shortens the morning. If you miss a Sunday entirely, Borough Market by London Bridge is the fallback for the rest of the week, with its Victorian iron roof keeping much of the shopping dry. It is a permanent food market with traders rather than a growers-only market, so ask about provenance before you buy.

Marylebone residents often juggle Sunday lunches, gallery visits and family plans. Tell Karpo APP what you want to cook, how many people you are feeding and when you are free. It can lay out a stall order, a walking line from your door and a backup day at Notting Hill or Bloomsbury in a short list you can follow. You still pick the produce yourself, with the growers.