The Olive Tree Market is an Art & Design Market which is located at
Civic Park, right in the heart of Newcastle City Centre. It is usually held on the 1st Saturday of each month and the 1st and 3rd Saturday in November/ December - check the next date
here. There are over 130 stalls selling creative homewares, artworks, unique crafts and gourmet artisan food products, as well as a range of food trucks to tempt the taste buds. Civic Park is a convenient location for these markets, as it is just down the road from the popular Darby Street
cafes and it is a short walk up through Wheeler Place, from
Civic light rail stop.
My daughter and I decided to visit these popular markets for the first time, so we hopped on the
Newcastle Ferry from Stockton and caught the light rail to the Civic stop. We loved the convenience of getting there and as we walked closer, we could smell the markets before we could see them - the delicious food trucks smells were wafting all over the city!
Spend Saturday morning at the markets (the first Saturday of the month)!
The market had free entry and had a real "buzz" about it, with live music and happy locals meeting up with friends to make a whole morning out of the experience. My daughter was in doggie heaven on our visit, as it was also a popular market with dog lovers so there was a cute assortment of pooches being led around the markets.
We stopped and looked at stunning jewellery, colourful art, hand-made ceramics, stylish clothing, indoor plants and other interesting stalls that we had never seen before. This market would be the ideal place to go shopping before Mother's Day, Father's Day or Christmas, with a range of local and unique products for sale. See
here for the range of stalls you may see at the next markets, so you can support an up-and-coming local artisan.
Walk up and down the stalls, while listening to live music
When we had finished looking around (and buying eclairs from
Choux Patisserie and donuts from
G-Free Donuts for later!), we then thought about lunch. The food truck area was the place to be, with a wide variety of meals to choose from such as Vietnamese, wood-fired pizza, Dutch pancakes, crepes, and gozleme. They also had stalls selling fresh lemonade, coffee, hot drinks, acai bowls, smoothies and soups. Take your appetite for all the food trucks - you are going to want to try them all!
Walk along and make your decision!
The smells made our stomachs rumble, so we picked up some Chicken Pho soup, pizza and fresh lemonades and found a bench in Civic Park to enjoy our lunch in the sunshine. On a cold and windy winter's day, it was the perfect spot to sit to watch the Newcastle community come together and support each other at this colourful, artisan market. With music beats heard from the markets, we could of sat in the sunshine there all day enjoying the festive Olive Tree Market atmosphere.
Why don't you visit this market yourself, on the first Saturday of next month? Follow them on
Facebook and Instagram for all the latest details, just in case the date changes or there is rain forecast on that particular Saturday. We will be going back ourselves -
see you there!
Hot Chicken Pho from Viet Yum - perfect for a winter's day!
