LOCAL produce proved a hit at Holmfirth Farmers' Market yesterday.

At 9.45am the queue at the vegetable stall was already 30 people long.

Shoppers, it seems, are happy to stand for 15 minutes or more to buy their Brussels sprouts for Christmas dinner from a stall selling locally-produced goods.

Mrs Anne Dyson, of New Mill, is a keen advocate of the farmers' market.

"It's good to come to a local market," she said. "Everything here is very fresh. I used to live on a farm and do not want the supermarkets to have it all their own way."

Farmers' markets, which embody the availability of home-grown foods, are big business in Britain, although they are a relatively new idea.

The concept is different to a conventional market in that all products sold should have been grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked or processed by stallholders within a set boundary, usually around 40 to 50 miles.

This provides shoppers with the opportunity to question producers on their farming methods and also instils confidence in the goods they are buying.

Sisters Pat and Marianne Hall travelled from Saddleworth to shop at Holmfirth.

They were particularly impressed with the meat on sale and are regular customers.

"It is more expensive than the supermarket, but the value is there," said Pat. "It is much better quality."

The sisters were brought up in Saddleworth and said the meat on sale in Holmfirth was like that they remembered from their childhood days.

"This is the meat we had as children," said Pat. "It is not the mass-produced, fattened-up stuff you get in a supermarket. It is completely different. It has much more taste."

Mr Stephen Briggs, of Honley, was queueing for vegetables with eight-year-old daughter Laura.

He said: "I am not sure if it is more expensive here than in other shops - but it would not bother me if it was.

"I prefer the produce here and prefer to support the people who produce it."

Mr Briggs also liked the meat and fish on offer.

"The difference between the trout on sale here and in supermarkets is phenomenal," he added.

Zoe Carratt, of Slaithwaite, is a regular visitor to Holmfirth Farmers' Market.

"It's really good here; it's not just twee craft stalls," she said. "You know what you buy is going to be good quality and that you are not paying more for transport and packaging.

"I know a lot of people who would like to see a farmers' market in Slaithwaite or Marsden."

Stallholders all enjoyed attending the market.

Caroline Wood, of Marsh, who runs Stuffed, a home-made take-away food business, said: "Coming here enables me to get feedback from customers.

"There are people who come here regularly and I had a couple of ideas for the menu from them.

"Farmers' markets are a good concept, because people do not normally get to buy local produce."

But Bob Thorpe, of Holmfirth, who worked on the Women's Institute preserves stall, felt that Holmfirth was lacking in comparison to Penistone and Ashton-under-Lyne farmers' markets as they were advertised and promoted better.

"But this has lots of variety and a nice atmosphere," he said.