A Day in Dordogneshire

It's that time of year in the French brocante calendar that you will inevitably begin to run into the same stallholders and in turn the same stock over and over again so having been tipped-off by a mysterious man in the know (nudge nudge wink wink... and a few taps to the side of the nose) we set off south to Verteillac, a village in the Dordogne that holds a flea market on the first Sunday of every month (OK it's not that much of a secret but we didn't know about it).

Early morning and just beginning to warm up

We arrived in the picturesque village nice and early just as everyone was setting up so after a croissant and a steaming hot cup of coffee the game was afoot (I've gone all Sherlock Holmesy).  Of course we had heard the stories about the Dordogne being inundated with the English so we thought they wouldn't notice if another two sneaked across the border.  Anyway it appeared that the number of English residents had been vastly exaggerated as at first glance the majority of the stallholders were French as were at least half the chineurs searching for that early bargain.   

Sitting outside a café with a coffee people watching

As the cold morning air cleared and the sun came out we felt as though we were on holiday and strolled around the charming French village feeling relaxed and happy. We also bagged a few unusual bits and pieces (trucs) for my Etsy Shop and were very glad we'd made the effort to go a little further afield.

Click to see listing

Being into quirky and unusual trucs I was particularly thrilled when I found this gorgeous little antique dog collar that once belonged to Tarzan - a petit chien from the centre of Bordeaux.

Click to see listing

I also bought this great looking tea caddy (or tobacco jar - we couldn't decide) and a beautiful little signed bronze pin dish by the renowned Parisian maker Louchet (I didn't know that he was renowned until later after a bit of research but that's half the fun of this game).

Click to see listing

As the morning drew to a close we stopped for a bite to eat in a charming little restaurant on the square and it was then we began to notice that all the other diners were also English.  We're so used to waffling on to each other safe in the knowledge that the majority of people around us have no idea what we're saying that we felt we had to be a bit guarded and for us that was a bid weird.  We also find that it's easy to lazily zone out the French language in restaurants until it becomes a series of Gallic sounds (unless is sounds interesting then our ears prick up) so being surrounded by English chatter that we couldn't ignore was quite an annoying distraction (and did I mention weird?)

A beautiful little village with a real holiday vibe

After an unusually whispered lunch we decided to do a final circuit of the brocante to see if we had missed anything and it was on our way back to Piggy (our van) that I heard some old music playing in the background. To my absolute and slightly over the top delight (I may have jumped up and down clapping my hands) a couple of stallholders (yes they were English) had a 1930's HMV picnic gramophone for sale (Spike wasn't so keen but I reminded him of the cuckoo clock purchase and he knew that he was defeated).  

Whenever I come across these little gems they usually don't work properly (something to do with a spring I've been told) but there was no doubt about this one as the wonderful sound of Fats Waller blared out from this precious little box.  It was so loud in fact that I asked the vendor if there was any way to turn it down while we discussed the price - he told me 'to put a sock in it' (how rude!).  

My little gramophone that could do with another outing in the open air
(as could the wallpaper in my office... preferably the dump!)

After much umming and ahhing and a lot of arm twisting we negotiated a few early 78's into the deal and I headed off home with a big grin on my face (and Spike of course... minus big grin).  There's no denying it, my little HMV is very LOUD if you play it indoors but the volume can be muffled (as suggested by the seller) by stuffing some cloth inside it. My only issue with it now is that it's a bit fusty so it's causing a wee bit of a stink in the corner of my office (suggestions on a postcard please).  

All in all a successful day's shopping and in a few months time we'll no doubt make another buying trip to the pretty little village of Verteillac in Dordogneshire.

Pretty as a Pitcher!

Please excuse the cheesy title of this post but believe me it could have been much worse.  I was initially toying with the idea of going with 'Pitcher This!'  and then I though what about  'Nice Jugs!' so you see what I mean!

Anyway, you have probably guessed that the subject of this week's post is pitchers and jugs and here are a few that I have had in the past and some more that are patiently sitting on the shelf of my office waiting for a new home.   

The first example is this barbotine (French majolica) pitcher in the form of a duck by the maker St. Clément.  I often see them when I'm out and about so I finally gave in and decided to buy one.  He was pretty mucky when I found him and he looked a bit unloved so being the former owner of a little duck that looks quite similar (Claude who has moved to the duckpond in our local park in Cognac along with his buddy Jacques) I just couldn't resist.

Click here to link to his listing on my Etsy Shop

A real favourite of mine are enamel pitchers and jugs and I buy them whenever I can because they are equally decorative inside the home or out in the garden and have a great shabby-chic/vintage look that's still so popular.  This particular one I have kept for myself because there were some pin hole pricks in the side that I missed when I purchased it.  Luckily a bit of clear silicone has solved this problem but having found another one in better condition I put that one up for sale in it's place. 

This little jug is another example of barbotine and is from the Art Nouveau/Belle Epoque period.  At present it is still waiting for a new owner on my Etsy shop.

Click here to link to it's listing on my Etsy Shop

This little pitcher has beautiful pale duck egg blue enamel and would look great on the table filled with flowers in a country or shaker style kitchen.

Click here to link to it's listing on my Etsy shop

This one I sold some time ago.  I secretly wanted to keep it after filling it with lilacs and photographing it so I was genuinely sad to see it go!

This last little fellow is from the same maker as the duck (St. Clement) but completely different in style.  Modelled as an owl with a lovely bright yellow glaze I don't think it will be long before he finds a new home.

Click here to link to his listing on my Etsy Shop

Travelling Through Time!

One subject I know very little about is clocks and timepieces but being a bit of a 'dabbler' the fact that I have no expertise in this field hasn't stopped me from making a few purchases over the years. Here are a few of the little alarm clocks that have passed through my life and my Etsy shop.

This lovely vintage wall clock is surprisingly still with me but I'm enjoying having it on display in my office while it waits for a new owner.

Click on photo to see listing

One clock that we bought to keep for ourselves is this pretty little French mantle clock.  It's made from marble and has the most delightful little chime.  It can be a temperamental from time to time but if we remember to keep it wound up it's fine.  

My husband, Spike, is half Swiss and has very fond childhood memories of spending his holidays in the home of his Uncles in the mountains of Switzerland and ever since then he has nursed the dream of one day being the proud owner of a cuckoo clock.  

This dream of his is something that I have tried to avoid for many years because cuckoo clocks are really not my truc and I am very particular about what items make it over the threshold of our home.

However, a while back at a brocante market I foolishly pointed one out to Spike that I had spied tucked away in a box behind the stall.  When his face lit up I could see immediately that it was love at first sight and I was in trouble.  I grilled the seller in the hope that he would crack and tell me that it wasn't working.  A trick we employ with smaller clocks is to shake them to see if they begin to tick but obviously the mechanism is different and you can't go grabbing a large cuckoo clock and start shaking it up and down anyway (although at one point I was sorely tempted!).  

The next straw that I frantically grasped at was that it would be priced way out of our reach but being the end of the day I think the old guy was glad to get rid of it.  He offered the clock at such an annoyingly low price we couldn't say no and I suppose there's not much call for cuckoo clocks in the South West of France (I also personally believe that the vendor was a cruel, cruel, vindictive man because I made it perfectly clear that I wasn't keen!).

I immediately made Spike agree, as a condition of purchase, that it would live in his workshop (I was trying to sell the man-cave thing) and that's where it is at the moment (although worryingly this space will one day be our kitchen so I'm not out of the woods, or should that be Black Forest, yet!). Thankfully after all the trauma the clock does actually work and the little cuckoo can be heard reverberating around the house from the basement so we always know what time it is wherever we are (even in the wee small hours... guests beware!).

All this being said I have over time rather begrudgingly grown quite fond of it (at least it's an old and relatively tasteful example of a cuckoo clock - I can't believe I just said that!).

Moving swiftly on... here's our latest acquisition to join the noisy gang of clocks we seem to be amassing.

It's a Napoléon III 'Oeil de Boeuf' clock.  OK, I know it's a funny looking thing but when we saw it a couple of weeks ago we just loved the old lump and it has a really soft mellow tone when it chimes (please try to ignore the plasterboard backdrop!).

My ambition one day is to own a long case clock but I would go back to England to buy one because I find the French ones a bit odd looking compared to their British counterparts (or is it just me?).

    

French

English

I would particularly like one with a sun/moon dial in a honey-coloured burr walnut case but that's one ambition really is going to take some time!

A Tailor Made Château

Last weekend we visited a brocante that was just a little more special than the ones we attend. Generally in car parks, fields, villages or town squares I was especially keen to visit this particular one because it was being held in the grounds of a château.  My hope was that it would be a cross between The Antiques Roadshow and a summer garden party and I wasn't disappointed.

It was a bit of a chilly and overcast start to the day but it soon warmed up

The story behind Le Château de la Mercerie (translated as The Castle of Haberdashery) is very out of the ordinary because this grandiose façade is an illusion.  In 1924 two brothers, Alphonse and Raymond Réthoré, made their fortune from the textile industry and proceeded to purchase a modest manor (if there is such a thing).  Inspired by Versailles they then constructed an imposing and magnificent structure on the side.  Over the years they collected architectural treasures including paintings by Italian Masters, sculptures, delft tiles to create vast murals and, like Versailles, they commissioned a mirrored gallery. 

The château or folly that can be seen today was finally completed in 1970 only to fall into disrepair over the subsequent years. Luckily the local residents have taken up the baton to save this treasure and have been busy fund raising with this annual brocante being just one of many events held in the grounds.

The brother's additions to the original building are very long and virtually impossible to photograph in entirety so here is a photo I found that shows the whole thing

A work in progress as a new roof to one of the turrets is under construction.  If you had ever wondered how they made them well wonder no more.  I don't know why but I suddenly fancy an ice cream!

From this side you can see the original manor house

A beautiful view over the Charentaise countryside from behind the façade

I did a bit of treasure hunting myself that day (soon to be put on my Etsy shop) and thoroughly enjoyed having such a splendid backdrop to do a bit of haggling.

Paris - La Deuxième Partie

As promised last week here is part two of our recent trip to Paris.  

"I want to step out down the Champs-Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe...

Me risking life and limb to get a picture
of the Arc de Triomphe in the background

to the Petit Palais - that's for me... Bonjour Paris!" 

The Petit Palais

Sorry about that - I feel much better now! Do feel free to click on the link for the original (and some may argue superior) version of this famous song from one of my favourite Audrey Hepburn films 'Funny Face'.

We were very lucky that there was a brocante being held right in the centre of Paris on the day of our 10th wedding anniversary.  It was situated in picturesque surroundings along the Seine under the Pont Alexandre III and although most of the trucs were well out of our price range it was so refreshing to see some genuinely beautiful antiques.

This obviously unimpressed lion (well he is a Parisian) begrudgingly pointed us in the right direction...

et voila! a perfect scene of a charming little brocante market in Paris complete with a stunning view the Eiffel Tower in the background.

I was determined to buy something so after sifting through the wares of numerous stalls I did eventually invest in a a little sugar sifter and berry spoon with beautiful Paris Metro style Art Nouveau detailing on them and...

as modelled by my lovely vintage mannequin (also from Paris but bought locally) - a hat (I can't resist a good hat and this one spoke to me!)

My lovely Girard of Paris mannequin

After the brocante we set off over the bridge with the intention of catching a train from Les Invalides to Notre Dame Cathedral but unfortunately the trains weren't running that day so we had to walk.

Because it was just a day trip with the need to get home to the host of animals we have in order to feed them that evening (especially our beagle Oscar who has been known to get an attack of the vapours if his dinner is late) it was more of a schlep than a gentle stroll along the Seine but eventually we reached the Latin Quarter and headed through the narrow streets to our pre-booked lunch destination opposite the Jardin du Luxenbourg. 

I was a little disappointed with the Latin Quarter because I had romantic notions of it being like a 1950's Hollywood film - home of poets and beret wearing beatniks - but it has become a bit of a cheap and nasty tourist trap full of people like me looking for the beret wearing beatniks that no longer exist (either that or they've all found an alternative bohemian quarter of Paris that's not so crowded).  

Once we reached the Bistrot Au Petit Suisse we were back into a quarter of Paris that had some real charm.  We had decided on simple lunch because we were pushed for time and I had set my heart on trying the traditional home-made onion soup.

The Bistrot Au Petit Suisse (Spike is half Swiss so it seemed a fitting choice)

The interior of the bistrot was bijou and wonderfully authentic and the atmosphere revived me after stress of dodging through the busy streets of the Latin Quarter.  It also revived my desire to launch a one woman campaign to bring back anaglypta wallpaper (I have controversial plans to paper the ceiling of my future bistrot style kitchen with it).    

Spike and me on the mezzanine as I strive to capture the wonders of
anaglypta wallpaper in all it's bumpy glory

We had booked a little table for two on the mezzanine which was away from the bustle downstairs and charmingly intimate (although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone over 6ft).  

The onion soup didn't disappoint although any thoughts of having a light healthy meal went out of the window when I found myself digging through a large layer of melted cheese to find it (not complaining though v. yummy).

My cheese and onion soup

Continuing the theme of enjoying a low fat healthy meal I perused the dessert cabinet from my mezzanine seat and decided on...

My view of the dessert cabinet

the most enormous crème brûlée I have ever had the pleasure of eating. It was home-made and delicious but probably didn't do my waistline any good so it was fortuitous that the train wasn't running that day and we had been forced into such a long hurried walk. 

The photo doesn't really show the scale of the crème brûlée

After lunch we waddled across the road to the Jardin du Luxembourg to see the famous Medici Fountain.  A beautiful fountain that's very hard to photograph because it was so crowded with tourists (like ourselves).  We would like to go back to see it out of high season because like many beautiful destinations it has become a victim of it's own success (I don't like sharing).

My best shot of the Medici Fountain without
other camera toting visitors in it

We passed a super formal pond where children could hire little yachts with sails that depicted the flag of their country of origin. It was wonderful to see the utterly timeless scene of children running around the perimeter of the pond with sticks to push their yachts away from the edge. I'd never actually seen first hand pond yachts in action and was surprised how quick they were when the sails caught the wind.

The charming yacht pond

We then whizzed past the Palais du Luxembourg...

and the beautiful Orangerie

before heading off past the Eglise St. Sulpice to the metro that took us back to Gare Montparnasse and home. 

The Elgise St. Sulpice

Visiting Paris was a wonderful way of celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary and has made us determined to find some animal sitters next time so that we can stay overnight and avoid the clock watching we experienced because we had a train to catch (you'll be releaved to hear that we were home in time for dinner so we didn't have to break out the smelling salts to revive Oscar).  

I still have four tickets for the metro left to use (due the the cancelled train) and with any luck we will be back in the autumn for another, slightly longer and hopefully less crowded visit.  Although I was sad to say au revoir to Paris it was heavenly after such a hectic day to be back home and say rebonjour to Cognac.

Bonjour Paris!

To mark the occasion of our 10th wedding anniversary last Monday Spike and myself decided to take a day trip on the train to the romantic capital of the world - Paris.  

I am currently drowning in the numerous trucs I purchased at a flea market on the following day in Hiersac (a special brocante held for the Fête Nationale) so I am posting just a few photos from our lovely day out. But never fear I will be boring you with the whole story another time when I don't have quite so much to do!

I have decided to publish my pictures in black and white because it gives them a charming vintage quality and shows off the Paris I love at it's best. 

We start with a view of the Tour Eiffel from the Art Nouveau Pont Alexandre III 

then pass the amazing clocks of the Musée d'Orsay

before reaching the unmistakable cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris

and a traditional Parisian café near the beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg

 

As promised a very brief post this week but I hope you enjoyed the pics - Nx