ROSSENDALE shoppers will be able to buy traditional produce, ranging from German sausages to Parisian handbags from continental traders wearing period costumes.

Twenty traders are to set up stalls in Lee Street, Bacup on Saturday, November 12, as part of a special continental market.

They will be wearing the period costume of stallholders from 100 years ago and selling a large range of products.

These include food such as home made biscuits from Brittany, Polish bread, olives, fruits and vegetables, wine and cheese from France, Portuguese cake, Italian nougat homemade honey and jam, Belgian chocolates, German sausages and Dutch waffles.

There will also be clothes, flowers, jewellery, ornaments and gifts from across Europe.

A spokesman for organisers Olivier Simonin, said: "Most of the products come from 'the terroir', the land, of the stallholder and are produced by small organisations such as family businesses, farms or small factories, where traditional methods are used, maintaining high standards of quality.

"The traders will wear the period costume of continental stallholders from 100 years ago, providing an amusing medieval aspect to the event.

"Particular attention is given to the stall's decoration, representative of the country they come from."

The market was created originally through a traders' co-operative set up in 1992 consisting of 20 permanent individual traders selling mainly French goods.

It developed into a continental market featuring traders from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Spain.