Montbazon-vide grenier

Sunday took us to a lovely little village -Montbazon- south of Tours.

 it was the  monthly Vide grenier and the sellers had set up tables in a parking lot next to the river.

people were rushing to get there...

If one is looking for french country porcelaine, everyday glasware, old linen and forgotten attic bibelots,this is the place you will find your treasures 

and on the side...some fresh produce..

leaving this area,

we are  heading towards the Dordogne, where I am visiting a Brocante  discovered on our previous travels. I hope to find more matisse, chanvre and monogrammed linen..

will share as we travel..

Salut

Colette X

Brocante

I can say it!..off to the Brocante this Sunday!......

Oh I allways read this anouncement with a "wish it was me!"..now it is my turn to dangle the carrot!

in a nice way and like all the regular brocante danglers..?.... I'm excited beyond myself. After one week and two more to go on a visit to the  French countyside with Brocante as the MAIN reason, the high is still HIGH!!

if you know how to spell Brocante...

you will find it...

anywhere, everywhere....

even the time it will take to get there...

will share with you what we see and find.

A Bientot

Colette  X

up above and down below...

We did  the Touriste thing today....

It was overcast, the local Mercredi Brocante was thin.. so we decided to take a drive to Amboise, a beautifull medieval village not far from us.-in fact we hopped in the car outside the door and just drove straight on, no round-abouts, no sharp sudden turns, straight on through tall Plein trees..still on the same road found a parking and walked into the little village where hundreds of touristes were elbowing one another at the post card stands and children were licking glace

I adore pretty street lights...because of the over cast light, it was a pleasure to photograph these

once nose in the air to focus..that is were my camera (and nose)
stayed for the afternoon

then I had to move sideways so that I would not trip over this

these were next to me..allmost missed them..being so "nose in the air"!

..and down below

and back to reality..but quite in place since it is a Medieval village

of course we had Crepe Nutella with our Cafe

and glace too

a very relaxing day

A Bientot

Colette  X

Tea with the Marques family..

...at the Ladies Chateau.

It just would not be fair to be surrounded by beautifull Chateaux and  castles and not to share...
We love Chateau de Chenonceau. It has been a few years since we visited for the first time. It is even more beautifull than I remember..maybe because with the years I have "grown" in my taste for tapestries and relief work, and just cannot get enough of what the Marques family were up to in their days...

dd (darling daughter) rushed to see everything possible  there was she remembered from before..

We said thank you for all the beauty still there for us all to see...and being able to experience this as a family

Chapel room

...got lost in the maze later...and had tea in the L'orangerie

Chateau of Chenonceau

The ladies chateau for

Diane de Poitiers 1499 - 1566

Catherine de Medici 1519 - 1589

Louise of Lorraine 1553 - 1601

Louise Dupin 1706 - 1799

Marguerite Pelouze 1836 - ?

Simone Menier 1903 - 1972

I will share more detail and information in a future post.

A Bientot

Colette x

Sunday Brocante

We travelled south east today to visit the Chateauroux monthly brocante....
Along little roads between large patches of trees,mottled green and yellow corn fields, patches of the last red poppies amongst white lace flowers,past huge gates to Chateaux and sign boards to local wineries and Cave..

 road signs to make sure we are aware..... there was a lot of "zig zag" driving..

We saw wild Reindeer next to the woods near a still sleepy village. It took  just under two hours to reach our destination via all this beauty, and we nicknamed our driver (husband) " Mr Bean"  -since even with the help of "Penelopy" (the GPS lady) we still had to do a lot of "u-turns" and reversing once into a field!
 The narrow roads does not allow for uninformed curious brocante searchers to make a gracious turn when needed. 

Finding parking is another obstacle to overcome once arriving at destination, and we did find a good space a  few blocks away right next to an  attractive gold Republique Francaise  sign..

Unfortunately for us, and all sellers and browsers out today, rain came pouring down which continued for at least two hours. Dealers started packing up and by 11 o'clock  most  dealers had left and  browsers dissapeared.
 I'm sure they must be the locals that  know next month all these dealers will be back, or where to find them at another village, another weekend.
I did not mind the rain after yesterday's heat. I kept going ,peeping under the plastic covers that covered the few tables of sellers sitting it out, since it will be a long time for me before I get to visit this brocante again.
One very relaxed seller of religious objets, just poured a glass of wine,   sat next to his table with his black brolly, watching everyone flapping around. Perhaps being in the company of all those objets, just kept him calm and happy.. I loved everything he had on display and left with these..

..another happy lady/seller who had plenty of shelter and did not rush to pack all her goods away, had heaps of linen on trestle tables. Old and new mixed together with florals and one had to dig in. When she saw that I was trying to find the one and only monogrammed anything, she called me to her van, and pulled out a box of what I thought were lenths of old linen edged with beautifull handmade lace. I new immediatly I was onto a good thing and I suppose - not very wisely- did not even unwind the tightly rolled pieces with only the lace exposed- but what I saw was enough for me! Communication was problematic but the love for lace was shared..

When we arrived home and unpacked, we discovered they were all Priest's Albs   and some Coir boy's smocks ! I LOVE them! my daughter claimed a small coir  smock for herself, and I keep on touching them- all different, antique linen, handmade lace and really special...

"Mr Bean" could not resist this LIMOGES Bisque Chopin on blue enamel collumn- on his way to bring the car closer to us girls still browsing in pouring rain.

A most wonderfull day it has been!...

A Bientot

 Colette