In my April-May Highlights, I briefly talked about going to Matakana. Today’s post is all about it and what we got up to.

I’ve been to Matakana before but it was on a Sunday and the famous farmers market wasn’t on. My family has never been so we went on a wee trip to check it out.

We were lucky that we went on a beautiful autumn day. Although it was a bit chilly, the sun was shining.

There were two markets. There was another market at this carpark and old building behind this church. I can’t remember the exact name but it was more crafty. We got brownies, wool socks, candles, lip balm and my mum, sister and I all got matching rose gold rings. I thought the prices were reasonable.

The photos below were in the actual Matakana Village Farmers Market where most of the food was.

This market was bustling with people. We all grabbed coffee and checked out the stalls. We got flowers and I bought the peanut butter with honey from Matakana Nut Butters. I’m not really a peanut butter person but when I tasted it, I couldn’t resist. The chocolate one was also really good. I liked their peanut butter because there are no added flavours just peanuts and the honey adds the perfect amount of sweetness.

I thought the produce were amazing in this market. We came at a time when there was a vegetable shortage as well and the stuff in the supermarkets did not look good. The veggies from this market looked great and at an affordable price too.

Above is the French Pear candle I got from Trio Soy CandlesTrio Soy Candles. I also got their mango lip balm that I forgot to photograph but I like it too. On the right is the rose gold ring. Mine is a cat and my sister and mum have different ones. I love it and matches my Fossil watch.

The best part about the market for me was the Dog Minders area though. This is a place where you can leave your dogs to a few kids to ‘dogsit’ while you shop as you can’t bring dogs in the market.

My sister and I stayed here for a couple of minutes giving the dogs pats and it was awesome. Whoever thought of having this was a genius. For people who don’t have dogs, you can just oggle them or give them pats.

Beside the market are the local shops. I loved Twig + Bloom. They had beautiful flowers. Tulips are my favourite.

I’ve heard Matakana has good cafes too. We ended up in Matakana Market Kitchen because we were starving. I’ll make another post about this place next time so watch out for that.

As I said before, we went on a good day and we had a great time. Matakana is around a 40minute drive from the shore so it’s really not that far and you feel like you’ve happily escaped the city. Next time I want to try wine tasting because Matakana is also well-known for its wineries.

It was a bit too early for wine when we went but there’s always next time.

I’ve already shared this on my Instagram but on the day, I wore a Decjuba knit, Mirrou girlfriend jeans, Asos white sneakers, Kmart camel coat, Avoca beanie and my Michael Kors bag that struggled to keep everything in because I brought my slr camera with me.

If you’re free one weekend, I recommend driving up and checking Matakana and the market. Even if you don’t buy anything from the market, at least have a meal in one of the cafes or take a winery tour. Either way, I don’t think you’ll have a bad time up here.

Instagram |  Twitter  |  Facebook |  Pinterest | Bloglovin