the wollombi valley market.

mr relish and I packed up our tent, a few boxes of relish and jumped in the car for an adventure to the Wollombi Valley market during the Queens Birthday long weekend. Located at the Wollombi saleyards in the heart of the historic colonial village of Wollombi, it takes just over an hour or so from Sydney (just before Cessnock in the Hunter Valley wine region). The market is held four times a year on the Monday of each long weekend and raises funds for local charities and causes – this one was the annual fundraiser for the Wollombi Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, which seemed quite fitting really (most of you, quite rightly, won’t know this, but I have a fireman fetish… just a little one!) See last photo in gallery below.

You cannot book a spot in advance, so stall spaces are allocated on a first in first served basis and I was advised to get there early. Like the day before early. The grounds are open from midday the day before to allow you to camp in your spot overnight, so we were really surprised to see half of the market full when we rocked up around 2pm.  Sites are 6m x 6m (double the standard size) and marked out on a roughly mowed cow paddock (only just mowed by the neighbouring cows I suspected from the fresh paddy sites).  After we’d arrived and navigated a spot, we heard someone crank up a lawn mower. Yes, one of the stall holders wasn’t quite happy with the job the cows did on his patch of turf, so he mowed it. I was about to ask him how much he’d charge to do ours but couldn’t keep a straight face, and I didn’t want to offend him. I was impressed, these people were serious! And they knew what they were doing, many saying they’d been attending for 5 – 6 years straight.

I got the feeling many of the stallholders made a living touring the country with their partners / family and their collectables n treasures stored in the back of their van, combi, truck, campervan or caravan to share with everyone at these types of markets (someone had a pet rooster with them too, which mr relish was quite ready to make into collectable when it woke up screaming next to us at the crack of dawn).  If you are looking for something specific or a long lost treasure look alike you would definitely find it at this market. I have never seen so much ’stuff’ in my life, and believe there is something for everyone as there were stalls specialising in plants, live birds (budgies, cockatiels), birdfeed, vintage clothing, toys, wooden baby toys/decorations, dolls, vases, organic seeds, antiques, wood working tools, collectable trinkets, home made preserves, wooden rocking chairs & furniture, books, shoes, bags, tshirts, hats, socks, sweets, honey, homewares, fresh produce, hot food, mobile coffee vans and much more.

After we’d set up our tent we walked across the road to the very convenient Wollombi Village Vineyard and met the lovely Alan and Maria Roe, a husband and wife team who open their cellar door on the weekends, living in Sydney during the week. They specialise in liqueurs and wines which are priced very affordably, so we grabbed a few bottles of their chardonnay, shiraz, fortified wine (aka port) and liqueur (passionfruit was delicious) to devour with our crackers, cheese n relish back at the campsite. They also have rose, bubbly, dessert wines and are famous for their family recipe limoncello made from organic lemons (Maria is Italian).

We basked in the sun, sipping wine, chatting with the locals, watching the bustle around us and the sun settle behind the valley hills.  A very crisp country air arrived as the sun was disappearing, so we took off to the local Wollombi Tavern to sit by the fire, try “Dr Jurd’s jungle juice” and have dinner (large bistro meals at decent prices). If we didn’t have to get up so early to sell relish in the stall the next morning, we would’ve had a lot more drinks to try and keep warm and just roll down the hill back to our tent.

After a restless sleep in near freezing conditions, we awoke to our neighbours’ rooster at 5am and a very cold, thick fog. And did I mention it was FREEZING? The air within our eski was warmer. Seriously. Other stallholders who’d got up early to drive in from Sydney started arriving around 5am, and unfortunately they couldn’t get in as the market was full. Their vehicles were lined up the road outside the grounds packed to the brim with more treasures and goodies, but the fire brigade had to turn them away. I felt so sorry for them! Apparently this market gets more and more popular every year.

By 7am people were wandering around the market and we had someone willing to try some relish around 8.30am. After the fog finally lifted around 10am the blue sky made an appearance, the sun came out and so did all the people! We began to defrost, share our relish and openly chat with customers about the love of good food. It was a beautiful, fun and adventurous little trip for us and the supportive, cheering comments and the people we met definitely made it all worth while! I hope the Wollombi Fire Brigade raised a good amount of dosh to support their volunteers and keep them doing the great job they do.

Photo gallery from the market…

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