Last weekend there were a multitude of flea markets and antique fairs to choose from in our area. However we've recently been stumbling across the same old stalls with the same old stock so we decided to visit a fair a little further afield for a change.
The sun was shining so we thought we would make a day of it and visit the large brocante at Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire then wander around the town itself to see if we could find somewhere for lunch (hooray!)
We arrived at the fair at around 11 o'clock and quickly realised that it would be a shopping trip of two halves. The sun was relentlessly scorching, the brocante was big and we immediately knew that we had stumbled across a gem. It was so refreshing to see some real antique stalls mixed in with the more affordable stalls set up by locals clearing their attics (vide greniers). This meant that there was an eclectic mix of trucs in all price ranges.
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| A hot sunny day for the brocante at Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire |
After about an hour or so of schlepping around in the heat we rushed back to the car with the first haul of goodies (sugar tongs, cheese dome, among other things) and then set off for centre ville to find a restaurant. We eventually found somewhere and I chose a lovely fresh salad followed by delicious îles flottantes (for those of you unfortunate enough to have never experienced this iconic French dessert it is basically Italian meringues floating on runny custard... heaven!)
Unfortunately my dessert completely wiped out my slimming salad so it seemed a good idea to have a brisk walk around the town. Being a Sunday it was very quiet but it's faded elegance made the experience charming all the same.
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| L'église St. Mathias at Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire |
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| A traditional French department store with lovely old writing on the exterior |
After our lunchtime stroll we headed back to the brocante for some more trucs. As usual we couldn't resist buying something for ourselves and picked up a foo dog chop seal (also known as fu dogs or fo dogs... lets call the whole thing off!) This cheeky little fella has now found a permanent home on my desk (at the moment he is guarding a lottery ticket so fingers crossed with that one!)
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| My lovely dog of foo chop seal - who could resist that winning smile! |
Just in case my little foo dog doesn't work his magic here are some other things I picked up at the market that can now be found on my
Etsy shop.
All in all a hot, tiring day but enjoyable and very successful. I have discovered it's definitely worth going a little further afield to find those special trucs that I will thoroughly enjoy owning - at least for a little while.
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