The covered market in the centre of Ancenis operates year-round, with its liveliest sessions on Saturday mornings. Stalls sell local produce — goat's cheese from the inland farms, river fish, seasonal vegetables, bread from the boulangeries that ring the square. It is a straightforward French market without tourist frills, which is exactly what makes it pleasant.
The building itself is a nineteenth-century iron-and-glass structure, modest in scale but well-preserved. Worth visiting on a Saturday even if you are only passing through — the square around it fills with additional stalls and the neighbouring cafés do a brisk trade in croissants and coffee from about eight o'clock.