Four towns, four quite different market days. Exeter's farmers' market sits beside the river on a flat open square. Totnes squeezes its stalls between narrow streets on a slope. Tavistock has a covered hall that has been trading since the Middle Ages. Barnstaple puts most of it under one long roof. If you are choosing where to spend a Saturday morning, those differences decide everything: parking, weather cover, how wide the gaps are between stalls, and what ends up in your bag.
One caveat before the detail. Market days move with the seasons and with organisers' plans, so treat the patterns below as a guide rather than a timetable. Check the market's own listing or the town council's page the day before you travel, especially if you are driving any distance.
What each market does best
- Exeter — the riverside setting and the easiest trip without a car; the best mix of shopping and somewhere to sit afterwards.
- Totnes — small-batch producers and proper browsing, at the cost of tight streets and uneven paving.
- Tavistock — a full market-town experience under cover, with Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley on the stallholders' doorsteps.
- Barnstaple — the most weatherproof option, and the simplest of the four to get around with a buggy or a wheelchair.
Exeter: quayside stalls with a city behind them
Exeter's farmers' market sets up on the Piazza Terracina at the quayside, a flat square between the old Customs House and the river. The city runs a monthly farmers' market with extra dates through the summer and around Christmas, so it rewards a quick check before you set out.
The setting is the selling point. You can fill a bag with Devon cheese, chutneys, seasonal vegetables, bread and cakes, then walk the canal towpath, hire a bike, or sit outside with a coffee while children watch the boats. Coming by train is realistic here: Exeter St David's and Exeter Central are both a walk or a short bus ride from the quay, which makes this the easiest of the four if you would rather leave the car at home.
Totnes: compact, characterful, best for a slow browse
Totnes holds its food-focused market in the town centre, usually on a Sunday once a month, alongside regular market days in the Market Square through the rest of the week. The line-up leans towards small producers: preserves, cider, cheese, charcuterie, sourdough, plants, and the kind of purchase you make because the person selling it made it themselves.
The trade-off is space. Fore Street and the surrounding lanes are narrow, some of the paving is uneven, and the town is built on a slope, so a large pram or a wheelchair turns a browse into a bit of a mission. Arrive early, stick to the flatter routes near the Civic Hall and the bottom of town, and treat the market as one stop in a longer wander through the independent shops.
Tavistock: a market town that still behaves like one
Tavistock is the most traditional of the four. The pannier market on Bedford Square has been part of the town since the Middle Ages, and the covered hall keeps trading on several days a week, with outdoor pitches appearing on the busiest ones. A farmers' market strand runs alongside, so you get both a permanent indoor market and a rotating line-up of producers from the moor and the valley.
Expect Dartmoor lamb and beef, farmhouse cheese, cider, pasties, cakes and plants. Because the hall is covered, this is the market you can plan for in almost any weather, and the Meadows — park, play area and river frontage — is a few minutes' walk away when children have had enough of shopping.
Barnstaple: the big covered one
Barnstaple's Pannier Market is the largest of the four: a long hall off Butchers Row, trading through most of the week, with food and craft stalls layered in. In the rain this is where you want to be. You can do a genuine weekly shop under a roof — meat, fish from the North Devon coast when the boats are in, vegetables, cheese, cider, bread and plants — then walk straight into the town centre for everything else on your list.
The layout is wide and level, which makes it the friendliest of the four for buggies and wheelchairs. It is also the market where you are most likely to find a full spread of stalls on a day when a smaller outdoor market would have quietly packed up.
Parking, access and family facilities
None of these markets has its own dedicated car park, so plan the parking before you plan the shopping. Charges and time limits change, so check the council's parking pages the day before.
Exeter
Haven Banks and the quayside car parks are closest, both pay and display. The quay itself is flat and step-free, with public toilets and several cafes, which keeps things simple for wheelchairs and pushchairs. On market days the nearest car parks fill by mid-morning.
Totnes
Use the car parks at the bottom of town, around Steamer Quay and the Civic Hall, then walk up. Expect slopes, narrow pavements and cobbles. Toilets are in the town centre, and the riverside is a good place to sit with children once the browsing has gone on too long for them.
Tavistock
The Bedford car park sits beside the pannier market, so the walk from car to stall is about a minute. Bedford Square is level, the hall is step-free, and toilets are close by. The Meadows, with its play area and grass beside the Tavy, is the obvious stop for restless children.
Barnstaple
The Green Lanes multi-storey and the town's other central car parks are a short walk from the Pannier Market. Everything is under cover and level, with toilets and cafes inside, and you can push a buggy the length of the hall without meeting a kerb. Best of the four for a wet day or an unhurried shop.
Plan your visit
- Confirm the date first. Market days rotate, and a wasted drive is the most common complaint.
- Go early if you want meat, fish or the best vegetables. The good stalls thin out well before closing.
- Take a card and a little cash. Most stallholders now take cards, but not all of them, and signal in a market hall is not always reliable.
- Bring your own bags and a cool bag if you are buying meat, fish or cheese, especially if the rest of the day involves more walking.
- Build in a second stop — a park, a river walk, a cafe — so the trip works for the people who came along reluctantly.
Whichever of the four you choose, the pleasure is roughly the same: produce with a person attached to it, a bit of conversation, and a bag that looks different from the supermarket version. Ask the stallholder what is good this week. In Devon, that question usually gets you a straight answer and something better than what you came for.
Photo: Maria Orlova / Pexels
