Fashion and food. Two of our favourite things! marmaLADYa.com gets the low down on fashionista’s haven Cabbages & Frocks market from founder Angela Cash

Just over a year ago marmaLADYa.com visited the Cabbages & Frocks flagship market in Hampstead Heath. The venue was a lovely old church just up the road from Belsize Park tube. We were delighted by the mix of boutiquey little fashion and food stalls.

Take the best from Portobello and put it under one stained-glass roof and mix with a convivial cosy vibe and you’ve got it. We had great fun stopping at every stall to check out the gorgeous clothes and produce, topping up energy levels with delicious freshly squeezed juices and stuffed olives.

Unfortunately the lovely old church was prone to a bit of leakage and organiser, Angela Cash, had to move out of Hampstead Heath and find a new venue. “At the moment I’m looking for a new venue in Hampstead. That church leaked!” Angela laughs.

Now the market is running every Saturday on Marylebone High Street. It’s a wonderful mix of fashion designers and delicious food stalls. With no more than 50 businesses, it’s not a Spitalfields experience of endless stalls and you don’t get repeat goods and produce.

Each stall has been carefully handpicked by Angela for being unique and having something extra special to offer. “I choose businesses that are individual, producing things that you wouldn’t find in a mainstream department store. I want the public to feel they are getting a bit of an edge. A lot of the shops these days, although they are terrific, are doing the same things,” Angela says.

Having been a fashion designer, Angela’s newfound love of food and her experience running the London Fashion Designers Sale led to the birth of Cabbages & Frocks, “I’d put on the London Fashion Designers Sale for a number of years and then I suddenly got enchanted with food. I just fell in love with it. It just seemed very right to mix fashion and food together, if a little unusual,” she explains.

And of course Angela has always been mad about markets. “Everybody loves a market,” she says. “And that’s why I got into it, because I love markets so much. I love the atmosphere. I love that you can talk to the people that make the goods. It’s so personal. The contact is key. People love it. You get another feeling if you actually talk to the person who designed the frock.”

And the mix of fashion and food seems to be working. “We have a lot of local support in Marylebone. People keep coming back, which is great. We get tourists as well of course. But we get people from all over London. And when people like a market, they’ll tell their friends. It’s the famous ‘word around town’ that helps,” she explains.

Keeping the market fresh with new stalls is also key. “We have a certain amount of regular businesses who come back each week. But I think it’s important to keep introducing new businesses so the public doesn’t get bored,” says Angela. “Though funnily enough, people don’t seem to get bored very easily. A lot of people seem to come back and see their favourite companies – they come back for the Jamaican Rum Cake or to see if there are any new style cashmere jumpers. But I think variety is important.”

So what should we look out for at the Marylebone market? “I do have some favourites. We have a fashion label that does wonderful clothes from Bali,” she says. “And of course we have some lovely food companies. It’s hard to know which I prefer, they’re all so good! The company who does the Jamaican Rum Cakes is fantastic – they don’t do any other markets. And we have Villandry, which everyone knows and likes. We also have a company with award-winning sausages from Sicily. They also do sausages you can take home and cook. And then there are delicious Italian and French cheeses, olive oils and balsamic vinegars.”

And are there any plans for future expansion? “We are planning to open new markets, but I want to find exactly the right location. I definitely want do something in Hampstead again,” says Angela. “We’re doing the Marylebone market at the moment, and we are also doing the London Fashion Designers Sale in Islington, at the Islington Arts Centre, this April. It’s a three-day event with fashion and fashion related goods. Everyone loves a bargain!”

Cabbages & Frocks takes place every Saturday from 11am-5pm on Marylebone High Street W1, opposite the Conran shop.