Remember how carrots used to taste? Sharp, rich – carroty, frankly. They looked different, too: gnarled and witchy, often Siamese or amusingly rude – and always topped with the green shoots of a thousand home science projects. Nowadays, they look like nuclear missiles and taste like potatoes.

Thank heavens for farmers’ markets. For many of us, visiting one of the hundreds of local-produce markets that have opened up across the country in the past decade is an act of rebellion against bland Frankenfoodery. For me, it’s naked nostalgia – buying food that tastes as it should.

For that reason, the pleasure of shopping and cooking from a farmers’ market seemed like an excellent addition to a break in the British countryside, converting the selfcatering holiday option from a cost-cutting chore into a restorative, wholesome treat.

To road-test the theory, we set off for Pembrokeshire, and a cottage within striking distance of the award-laden market stalls of Haverfordwest. There, on a Friday morning, the cheery riverside shopping precinct was given over to produce from within 30 miles away, or your money back.

After starting gently, picking up some Welsh cakes for afternoon tea, I fell into a frenzy. Benni Thomas’s Cig Lodor Farm turned out bacon steaks so dense and flavoursome that applying ketchup would be a crime – so I got some spicy green tomato chutney from Christine Evans, next door, and finalised breakfast with a grab of six giant free-range eggs. Old-school carrots and proper muddy potatoes went in the bag, too, from Tim and Julie Bodfish’s place. Then there was sheep’s milk cheese to try and buy, and dinner from Lucy at the Vicar’s Mill Trout Farm – the rainbow still gleaming on the fresh-caught scales.

Finally, the crowning glory, worth crawling the length of the M4 on your elbows for, was the chunkiest, most ruby-red Aberdeen Angus sirloin I’ve ever seen – reared, loved and hung for an age at Penclippin Farm, on the Carmarthenshire border.

Pembrokeshire was reliably lovely, all clifftop bluster and pub suntraps – but it was what we dished up to eat each day that stuck in the memory. The bacon was heroic, the trout a reprimand to every flavourless fish in the freezer section; and there are dark, desperate crimes I would commit for another one of those steaks. As for the carrots – they tasted, magnificently, of carrots.

Details: the market takes place on alternate Fridays (Sept 14 and 28, Oct 12 and 26, 9am-3pm; www.pembrokeshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk ). You’ll find most of the stallholders at Fishguard farmers’ market on alternate Saturdays (Sept 8 and 22, Oct 6 and 20, 9am-2pm). For a home delivery of priceless steak, contact Angus Meats Wales (01994 240987, www.angusmeatswales.co.uk ).

Where to stay: the Barn, at Scleddau, has two properties in the grounds of an organic smallholding, with a lovely garden and country walks from the door. A week at the smaller cottage (two people) starts at £250 in September, through Coast & Country Cottages (01239 881397, www.welsh-cottages.co.uk ; weekend breaks available in many properties).

Five more market breaks

STROUD, Gloucestershire

Something of a national flagship, and largely responsible for turning this once humble Cotswold town into a scarily fashionable address, Stroud farmers’ market is now held every Saturday morning, bustling with up to 50 traders. Local-origin rules are strictly enforced, and the market’s website (www.fresh-n-local.co.uk ) has a generous selection of recipes you can prepare from the seasonal fare on offer. Treat yourself to a traditional British celebration of sugar and stodge from Peccadillo Puddings – after all, you’re in the centre of the south Cotswolds, so can pedal or walk any calorific guilt away. Where to stay: Westley Farm (01285 760262, www.westleyfarm.co.uk ), a 15-minute drive from Stroud, has five cottages spread over its bucolic land, all with gorgeous views; they sleep from two (£115 for a weekend) to eight (£205).

ORTON, Cumbria

Where the Lake District tails into the Dales stand the Howgill Fells, wild, craggy and with cheeringly few visitors – perfect territory for the long walks that will earn you a few indulgences at Orton farmers’ market (second Saturday of the month, 9.30am-2.30pm; (www.ortonfarmers.co.uk ). This tiny village is in game country, so you’ll find pigeons, rabbits and game birds for the pot at Austen Davies’s stall – and something to warm your cockles at the renowned Weardale Soup Company. To show you how far this whole foodie movement is progressing, the Cumbrian Fair Trade Cooperative will also be there, for more exotic goods. Most of the stallholders also crop up at Brough (third Saturdays) and Pooley Bridge (last Sundays until winter). Where to stay: Meaburn Hill Farmhouse (£250 for three nights; 01931 715168, www.cumbria-bed-and-breakfast.co.uk ) has a lovely four-berth cottage with a dinner-friendly kitchen; the hostess will provide a starter pack of local produce. Or try Orton Hall (0151 482 5543, www.ortonhall.com ).

EDINBURGH

The 2007 Farmers’ Market of the Year is the Castle Terrace market, in the shadow of Edinburgh castle. There are more than 70 stalls here every Saturday until 2pm, and there’s a surfeit of quality grub. Local seafood is always on offer, but it’s the meat that will really get the juices flowing. Head to the Puddledub stall for a water-buffalo steak from Scotland’s only commercial herd (half the fat of beef, and tasty with it) or try the Fletchers of Auchtermuchty for their visionary venison. This being Scotland, top-quality Angus beef is also on offer – the Well Hung & Tender operation does exactly what it says on the stall. Where to stay: Edinburgh Self Catering (01875 341490, www.edinburgh-selfcatering.co.uk ) has a tasty selection, including 6 St Giles Street, in a listed building that overlooks the Royal Mile. It sleeps two (and two more on the sofa bed); from £200 for the weekend.

FROME, Somerset

This county is probably the epicentre of the British food movement, with trout farms and organic orchards around every bend, so it’s almost unfair to single one out from the vibrant network of local markets that are now in place. A gastronaut could gallop to Wells every Wednesday morning, hit Axbridge on the first Saturday of the month, spend the second Saturday in Keynsham, the third in Crewkerne, and the first Friday in Wincanton.

Perhaps the pick, though, is the 30-stall market in Frome, on second and fourth Saturdays – not least because this compact town has so much else going on, particularly in its vibrant arts and theatre scene. Local pig farms are in fierce competition to turn out the finest sausages and bacon. There’ll be a bonanza of apple juices, excellent Somerset cheeses and almost always fresh trout (www.sfmdirect.co.uk/markets ). Where to stay: at the elegantly decorated Lazy Dog Cottage (01373 855275, www.lazydogcottage.co.uk), in the centre of town. The owners will put local produce in the fridge for your first night, including the makings of a full English breakfast. It sleeps two; £95 per night. Or try West Country Cottages (01803 814000, www. westcountrycottages.co.uk ).

WYE, Kent

Rather than just pottering around the garden of England, you can eat it: the picturesque town of Wye hosts the oldest farmers’ market in Kent (first and third Saturdays; www.wyefarmersmarket.co.uk ). Fruit and veg are the stars of the show here, but there’s also good-quality game and livestock, and you’ll often find the Botterells stall selling fish hauled in that very morning. Jays Fish, www.farmersmarkets.net meanwhile, specialises in smoking, so pâtés and fillets abound. This is also bee-keeping country (try the lavender honey).

If you want local produce cooked by a pro, eat one meal at the renowned Wife of Bath in Wye (01233 812232; £50 a head, booking essential). Where to stay: Mulberry Cottages (01233 813087, www.mulberrycottages.com), which specialises in Kentish selfcatering, has Rose Cottage, a lovely two-person bolt hole in the minute hamlet of Withersdane, near Wye. Weekend breaks start at £140 in September or October.

...but what is a farmers’ market?

CERTIFIED farmers’ markets get their badge from Farma, the National Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association. To qualify, a market has to meet three broad criteria. First, what’s for sale must be overwhelmingly local – normally, it should come from within the same county, or from within a radius of 30-50 miles of the market. Second,there’s a “no middleman”rule – the guy selling you the steak should have reared the cow, and the lady surrounded by jars of chutneys should have stirred them herself. Finally, there’s an expectation of transparency – if you’re paying Portuguese schoolboys tuppence a day to tend your steroid-bloated battery hens, then that’s exactly what you have to write on the egg box.

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