What is a trip to France without doing the rounds of the Brocante? These visits can be enormously frustrating for the traveller, but then if you couple your tour with their fantasy friend, ‘ the little house in the countryside’, they take on far more meaning. The fantasy starts with the ‘for sale’ sign, à vendre, hanging from the window of a sweet shuttered country house. This is followed by a slow perusal of prices in the windows of the immobilier. In Monsieur Tranquillo’s case, this means every real estate agent’s window in every village, and includes collecting the free glossy brochure, all in the interests of research! Oh mon dieu! And so it’s only logical that a visit to the Brocantes must follow. That’s my department. I’m yet to find some vide greniers ( garage sales ) and marchè aux puces ( flea markets) in my travels, though there are locality guides for these too.
Pézenas in Languedoc- Roussillon has around 20 or so Brocante, which are located on the outskirts of the town, mostly along Avenue de Verdun. On a sunny day, we managed to visit 8 or so stores. I usually head straight to the antique linen collection, knowing that I can always squeeze in a monogrammed torchon, serviette or sheet in lovely thick white linen.
A visit to the Brocante and antiquities stores makes for a well-rounded trip. This post is for Rod, hunter, collector, decorator.
ALMOST ITALIAN 
Oh, what treasures! Oh, the frustration ! My husband is addicted to Real Estate windows and their brochures too – but i guess if you stop dreaming, and part with your imaginary friend, life is not so much fun.
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I think your husband and mine have many wonderful things in common. But I may have said that before. Yes, a life of fantasy is the way to go.
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Gamblers read the form guide. The impecunious read real estate advertisements.
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No excuse Tranquillo.
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Oh look at that model boat. But even more interesting are the photos. One day I want to curate a photo exhibition from photos found at such places.
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Oh, you are the third of my blogfriends to talk about the brocante in recent months, you with your usual wonderful, enticing photos – a ‘friendly’ decision in my mind – markets when fine and discovery tours such as this on rainy days 🙂 ! Your displayed visit is pure delight . . . and, yes, I just cannot go past any real estate agent’s window either: if you knew where my husbands and I have ‘almost seriously’ looked at houses . . . . 🙂 !
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I love French brocantes. Don’t despair. There are many, many little things that tuck into suitcases to be found in these places. In fact, I spotted a few things in your photos that might have ended up in my luggage. But, of course, the best thing is to either have a house in France to furnish (that fantasy you mentioned above) or to be able to drive to France and haul things back in the boot of your car. One can always dream.
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We are travelling with an allowance of 22 kilos, stretched over 5 months, through tropical seasons in Asia, cold in Scotland, mild in France and now about to be very cold in Pavia, so as you can imagine, space there is always more space, but the weight rules are brutal on those little cheap carriers around Europe. I’ve snuck in a teatowel, alongise some Scottish wool, some antique frabic from the Hmong tribes in Thailand, a very nice Marseille apron, and am saving room ( weight) for some small pottery item from Italy. It’s nice when driving, but we must be vigilant.
The house dream may come off – a friend plans to buy one and we are the custodians.
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Good luck with that house. I had my eye on those old photographs (very little weight). We experience a similar luggage weight restriction when going back and forth Athens to UK, redistributing things between domiciles. Glad you were able to sneak in a few things.
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hahha, souds like us. Putting heavy stuff into the hand luggage- pretending it weighs nothing, repacking weighing,… and to think we have a business class home with a 40 k allowance, but alas, too late ( though maybe in Rome I might find some treasure)
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Wonderful treasures … love the wall lamps! Great shot F .. it just pops 🙂
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Those thick linen cloths look like the ones my Nonna used to make – by hand! Love the lamps too.
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All the lovely things… so frustrating when you know you can’t have something due to weight restrictions.
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Beautiful 🙂
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