Britomart Saturday Market

Every Saturday morning Takutai Square fills with stalls — fruit and vegetable growers, bakers, cheesemakers, coffee carts and hot food — set out under the trees between the restored brick buildings of Britomart. It is a compact market rather than a sprawling one, which suits younger children: the whole thing can be walked in twenty minutes, there is open paving to run on, and the square is closed to traffic. Families tend to make a morning of it, picking up breakfast at one end and the week's vegetables at the other. Stallholders shift with the seasons, so the mix is different across the year, stone fruit and berries giving way to citrus and root vegetables. The train station and the ferry terminal are both alongside, which makes it an outing in its own right or the start of a longer day on the waterfront.