One of Scotland’s oldest farmers markets' celebrates a quarter century of local products this weekend.

Ayrshire Farmers Market will hit the Cutty Sark centre in Ayr this Saturday, July 6...but it won’t be just any old market day.

The market celebrates 25 years of operation this month – and stallholders from the very first market day in 1999 will gather with new traders in a celebration to mark the success of the event.

Howard Wilkinson, Ayrshire Food Network chair, said that the anniversary shows just how important farmers markets are to the local farming and food scene.

He said: "In 1998 when we had the first meeting about it through the NFU Scotland, farmers were getting a low return on prices when they sold their products. The farmers market gave them a chance to sell direct to the customer.

"The issue with the market at that time was convincing the local authorities that they wanted to host it. We fought tooth and nail to get it.

Carol-Anne Dunlop is the treasurer of Ayrshire Farmers Market – and has been there since day one, when her mum ran a cake stall. She’s excited about its future.

She said: "We are the busiest we’ve ever been since it started. We have 24 stalls in Ayr, 19 in Kilmarnock and 24 in Paisley – that’s us at capacity.

"The people that shop with us understand that it’s small businesses, it’s hand-made and they know where the products have come from.

"The products our stallholders sell have to be Scottish made, using as much local produce as possible."

One of the longest-standing stallholders is The Caurnie Soapery, which is based in Kirkintilloch.

While there are farmers' markets in many towns and cities across Scotland, Howard believes that the Ayrshire farmers market is the second oldest, with only Perth’s market going further back.

He added: "What’s helped us survive is that we became a co-operative, which means that the producers are all responsible for keeping the market going.

"It doesn’t matter if they’re making cider, cakes, oil or milk ­- what’s exciting about the farmers market circuit is it’s a route to market for young start-up businesses.

"There’s a growth in younger people making a living from producing food as a priority to address the climate change crisis.

"They’re thinking about the slow food movement, that traditional approach to farming and food."