French Leave

Good morning blog world! We have just returned from another jaunt across the channel in search of French treasures. We got home with a very full Camionnette as we were over there for a full week.

On our travels we visited some familiar haunts and had time to explore new places too. We met some lovely sellers, many with a story to tell about the items they were selling. One lady told me that her maman had worn the ice skates I had in my hand whilst Ice Skating on the Champs-Elysees in the 1940's. As far as I was aware the Champs-Elysees is a road, maybe a lake or pond alongside the road was frozen. My French wasn't up to extracting the fine detail so early in the morning!

We have a lot to learn in the way of manners from the French. even at the most ordinary of Vide Greniers (Car Boot Sale) one is expected to greet the stall holder and ask the price in the most customary way.

Very little English is spoken in most of the places we visit so a smile goes a long way and breaks down the barriers.

Once the transaction is complete it is usual to wish the stall holder a good day, and they will reciprocate.

I am ashamed to say that I sometimes overhear a few English voices, usually talking loudly in some misguided way to make themselves understood. To hear them haggling aggressively over a Euro doesn't make me proud. ( I very rarely haggle in France, if the price isn't right I leave it). Pricing tends to be straightforward, for example 5 euros, 10 euros, 15 etc. If you haggle it involves awkward numbers such as 4, 9 or 14. The stall holders rarely have any sort of float or available change so the whole transaction turns into a nightmare with everyone turning out pockets to find an elusive euro!

Something about my appearance and perhaps the style of clothing, means that I am usually mistaken for being French. My patchwork coat causes a lot of interest and comment, last weekend one lady stopped her conversation and chased after me wanting to know where I purchased such an unusual garment! It is now known as the “coat of many comments”.

What better start to a week of hunting than a walk along the beach and a nose around a crumbling château? This one had the added bonus of holding an Antiques fair over the weekend. I have rarely seen such a mouthwatering collection of stalls... beautiful carved religious figures with crumbling paint, ancient stone cherubs, faded tapestries, iridescent enamel boxes and old painted domed trunks. All way beyond my price range, but wonderful to see.

This stall was set out in front of the fireplace, above was this amazing painted ceiling.

A lot of the château has only just been restored and has been left in a wonderful “pared-down” and crumbling distressed state. Below is the staircase and the door way from the courtyard.

I love the contrast of the cool interior to the scorching sunlit garden seen through an ancient shuttered window.

Throughout the building there were intriguing features and objects of interest. The combination of part museum and part Antiques Fair made it a fascinating place.

As usual I have managed to find a very eclectic mix of French goodies....

..from an early 20^th century black satin Opera coat with pale pink rose coloured silk lining and a beautiful old lace blouse with crystal buttons that belonged to “ma tante” (another story from an enthusiastic stall holder), a red 1940's jacket with moth damage, but perfect for customising or reworking to create something fresh and new.

…....to a colourful collection of toys, games and printing blocks dating from the 1950s.

The collection of toys was intriguing as amongst it was a little notebook written in French and English. It was most interesting as the explanations were written in English. You would expect them to be be written in French unless the author was English? Another unsolved mystery!

These items will be coming with us to the long list of fairs over the next few months. I have a full list on the side bar of the blog, and if you click on the image it will take you to the website or blog for more details.

...PS I also bought some gorgeous French workwear..as seen here......

and here....