AS spring arrives life gets busier for farmers’ market members, like Mandy and Richard Sidgwick of Lane Cottage Produce, who attended their first farmers’ market in November 2011.

They quickly realised they needed to expand their organic vegetable growing business to keep up with demand, and Richard has been busy over recent weeks fencing the vegetable field to put a stop to the rabbits and to contain the pigs they are getting to plough up the rest of the field.

Last March they erected a 30 metre polytunnel, a glass house and a fruit cage. This year they have bought cherry and pear trees and raspberry canes to add to the apples, plums, black, red and white currants already in the orchard, and tripled the number of seeds they sow.

And at St Anne’s Vineyard David Jenkins has borrowed Caspar, his neighbour’s 34-year-old donkey, to manage the rapidly growing grass between his vines.

But it is lambs gambolling around the fields which really signal the arrival of spring.

At Whyle House Lamb, Andy and Francis started lambing at the beginning of this week and there will be a flurry of births over the next three weeks.

Whyle House Farm is open every day from until March 25, from 2pm to 5pm.

Visit whylehouse.co.uk/ events for more information.

à The farmers’ market in High Town on March 15 will be celebrating Mother’s Day as One Jolly Girl sells ‘cakey’ gifts and biscuits and Sarah at Sweet Bliss will offer handmade chocolates presented in elegant teacups.

There will be cookery demonstrations at the farmers’ market on Easter Saturday, April 7.

Farmers’ markets are held in Hereford every Thursday and the first Saturday each month, in Leominster on the second Saturday of the month and in Ross-on-Wye on the first