The next trip however was made in mid-winter, to the well known Paris markets at St Ouen. Whilst I’d had no concerns about leaving a van parked up full of furniture in the countryside, I was less sure about Paris. So I’d booked a hotel with underground car parking. Arriving from Le Havre brought us […]
As I had been buying pieces, I’d been decanting them into the old barn at the Preuilly house. The morning of our drive up to Cherbourg became a focused exercise: How To Get Everything Back into Moe. Another realisation: two people packing a van will probably have very different ideas of how everything will go […]
I’ve developed a sort of half trance way of looking at markets. Whilst oblivious to whatever else is going on around me, it is a sort of visual grazing. In order to stop and buy there has to be a positive internal reaction, a “must have it” urge. Over time I have learnt to temper […]
Loches was the venue this time. And the white barriers were out across many of the streets with “Route barree” signs scattered around. We weren’t the first to arrive but there was still a good deal of unloading going on. My attention was drawn to an open backed lorry stacked with metal children’s cots, garden […]
The first purchases were made from a dealer with a large showroom, courtyard and barns. The barns were full of items still “dans leur jus” (- in their juice) as the French say, waiting for restoration. I found I was much more interested in the contents of the barns – climbing over obstacles, peering through […]
Getting ready for the first trip over to the house in Preuilly was full of excitement and sleepless nights – I researched markets and dealers around the Touraine, ordered Millers Guides and French parallels. A friend put me in touch with an English dealer who had lived in France – he offered many helpful pointers […]
I’d lived and worked in France, I’d worked as a tour guide, I’d worked as an interior decorator in the past – and this new venture promised to weave so many strands of my life together: the chance to use the language again, to map read, plan itineraries and discover lanes and vistas, staying in […]
“I’d really, really like to hire a van and go over to France and buy up loads of brocante….” I’d been saying this for quite some time, years actually when, following a walk in the Derbyshire Dales with my friend Hope, a thrilling plan emerged. Hope’s new partner was selling his house in the centre […]
Dreaming repeatedly, as a child, about a room – always the same red walled room, my dreamer’s gaze moving slowly around it, taking in detail after detail of how it was arranged. A bed time chapter of “The Borrowers” arousing a sleepy intrigue about the tiny dwelling of those resourceful little people, how they made […]
