Tiny Escapes

The Saturday Farm-Shop Round

How a practical Saturday errand became one of our favourite small ways to start the weekend.

4 min read

A large outdoor display of pumpkins and gourds in white, green, orange and yellow.

“Sometimes the errand is the escape.”

Some errands feel completely different when you stop treating them like errands.

On Saturday mornings, Bas and I sometimes get in the car and make a round of the farm shops near us. There are quite a few local producers around here, so instead of doing one large anonymous shop, we can make a little route of it: meat for the freezer, fresh bread, vegetables and whatever else looks particularly good that morning.

It is practical. We are buying food we will actually use during the week.

But it never really feels like grocery shopping.

It feels like the weekend has started.

A round, not a rush

I think the difference is that there is no attempt to make it efficient.

The point is not to get through a shopping list in the shortest possible time.

We drive from one place to another. We look at what is there. We might find something we had not planned to buy. In autumn, there can be tables covered in pumpkins and gourds in every imaginable shape and colour. Somewhere else, shelves are stacked with enormous wheels of cheese. Another shop has crates of fruit and vegetables, eggs, jars and produce from nearby.

It is still an errand.

It just happens to be a very nice one.

That is exactly the sort of thing I like about a Tiny Escape: it does not always need to be an extra activity squeezed into an already full weekend. Sometimes the thing you needed to do anyway can become the plan.

Large wheels of cheese stacked on wooden shelves.

The pleasure of bringing things home

There is another part of this ritual that I love: coming home stocked.

We buy meat for the freezer, fresh bread and vegetables so there is plenty in the house for cooking during the week.

That feeling is almost as satisfying as the outing itself.

A full freezer. Good ingredients. Bread for the weekend. Things waiting in the kitchen that make an ordinary Tuesday dinner easier.

The Saturday morning trip has quietly done something for the week ahead too.

And perhaps that is why it never feels frivolous. We have had a nice morning together, but we have also brought home things we genuinely needed.

Follow what is in season

Farm shops make the seasons very difficult to ignore.

That is one of their best qualities.

The displays change before you have even consciously registered that the year has moved on. Strawberries disappear. Apples arrive. Pumpkins suddenly seem to be everywhere.

I love that.

You do not need to create an elaborate seasonal ritual around it. Sometimes seeing a huge table of pumpkins on a Saturday morning is enough to make autumn feel properly present.

And because every area has its own growers, bakers, markets and producers, your version will never look exactly like ours.

That is the point.

Make your own local round

You do not need to live in the Dutch countryside to do this.

The format is more useful than the location.

Find two or three places close enough to combine into one easy morning: a farm shop, farmers' market, bakery, greengrocer, cheesemaker, deli or local producer.

Then give yourself permission not to optimise the route to death.

Buy the things you genuinely need.

Choose one thing because it looks particularly good.

Notice what is in season.

Come home before the whole day has disappeared.

The result is not a grand day out. It is a Saturday errand with better scenery, better ingredients and a little more pleasure built into it.

Interior of a farm shop with wooden produce crates, eggs and groceries.

Ordinary things count

There is a temptation to think that making life feel special requires constantly adding things.

More plans. More reservations. More destinations. More money.

I don't think it does.

Sometimes it is simply about noticing which ordinary parts of life are already capable of being enjoyable.

We need groceries.

We like cooking.

There are brilliant local producers close to where we live.

So on a Saturday morning, every now and then, we join those things together.

And suddenly stocking the freezer counts as going out.

I am very happy with that arrangement.

Make this escape yours

Best for: A Saturday morning, the beginning of a new season, or a weekend when you want to get out without sacrificing half the day.
Time needed: Around one to three hours, depending on how many stops you make and how far apart they are.
The formula: Pick two or three local food stops → make a loose route → buy what you genuinely need → add one seasonal thing that catches your eye → take everything home and stock the kitchen.
What we buy: Meat for the freezer, fresh bread, vegetables and whatever else makes sense for the week ahead.
Our version: A Saturday-morning drive around several farm shops near home, making useful grocery shopping feel much more like a small outing together.
No farm shops nearby?: Try a farmers' market, bakery, greengrocer, deli, cheesemaker or independent food producer. The idea is local and slow, not specifically rural.
The rule: It still has to be useful. This is not an excuse to buy a car full of decorative pumpkins. Although the pumpkins are very convincing.
Would we do it again?: We already do.