Getting out and about
After being so busy for so long, it seems strange now having no renovation works to do. We thought we could try and get out and about a little more than we had been used to.
On our way to Mayenne the other day we had seen so many posters for a Brocante and Antiques Fair advertised and although it was over an hours drive away we thought we would have the day out. It said Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so feeling that Friday would be the quietest day we left in the morning for a steady drive.
In England when they are repairing the road it becomes “cone” city, here they either just get on with the road works and one drives carefully round, or for major works they just close of the whole road and put up diversion signs. You can actually drive a detour of 20 miles – which is fairly common and no prior warning.
Ok so we chose the day when they sealed of the road, and we had to detour – a three quarter circle around where we wanted to go, so our journey took much longer and we arrived at the Brocante at 1pm. Now here in this region of France, everything closes between 12 and 2pm – no exceptions really apart from large Supermarkets, Street Markets and Brocantes. In this case – the Brocante we discovered on the first day of opening didn’t start until 2pm..of course, not stating this on their posters and not having been previously, like a few other people, we arrived and looked silly. So we wandered off for an hour (luckily the supermarket in this large town was open).
We arrived back just gone 2pm to find there was a 5 Euro charge each for admission, we have not heard of this before but paid our money and went in, thinking we were in for a real treat ! In France there are normally sellers of hot sausages and food (they usually have a large barbeque where they cook in front of you) and places where one can get drinks and coffee etc. Well, after walking into this hall and discovering there were about 20 stalls, all of which had items on which seemed to be tripled in price to anywhere else, no where to get food or drink, we were quite taken back. Covered every stall I believe three times and found nothing really of any interest and certainly not at a price that we would have purchased anything. Finally, we left and returned home, cutting across country to miss the long detour.
On route, we spotted another Brocante at the side of the road, a small house with a separate section and feeling that we had not had a day out, we decided to stop and peruse his wares. It was a large unit, absolutely brimming full of objects and furniture; it was three storeys high into the roof. We spotted one glass vase for 30 Euros (which in the other Brocante we had seen a similar one for 70 Euros.) There were some lovely items and we enjoyed our visit in his shop, which took over an hour. We love old French furniture it is normally solid Oak and carved and very heavy, and so cheap in comparison to the modern made furniture.
Life in France!
On our way to Mayenne the other day we had seen so many posters for a Brocante and Antiques Fair advertised and although it was over an hours drive away we thought we would have the day out. It said Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so feeling that Friday would be the quietest day we left in the morning for a steady drive.
In England when they are repairing the road it becomes “cone” city, here they either just get on with the road works and one drives carefully round, or for major works they just close of the whole road and put up diversion signs. You can actually drive a detour of 20 miles – which is fairly common and no prior warning.
Ok so we chose the day when they sealed of the road, and we had to detour – a three quarter circle around where we wanted to go, so our journey took much longer and we arrived at the Brocante at 1pm. Now here in this region of France, everything closes between 12 and 2pm – no exceptions really apart from large Supermarkets, Street Markets and Brocantes. In this case – the Brocante we discovered on the first day of opening didn’t start until 2pm..of course, not stating this on their posters and not having been previously, like a few other people, we arrived and looked silly. So we wandered off for an hour (luckily the supermarket in this large town was open).
We arrived back just gone 2pm to find there was a 5 Euro charge each for admission, we have not heard of this before but paid our money and went in, thinking we were in for a real treat ! In France there are normally sellers of hot sausages and food (they usually have a large barbeque where they cook in front of you) and places where one can get drinks and coffee etc. Well, after walking into this hall and discovering there were about 20 stalls, all of which had items on which seemed to be tripled in price to anywhere else, no where to get food or drink, we were quite taken back. Covered every stall I believe three times and found nothing really of any interest and certainly not at a price that we would have purchased anything. Finally, we left and returned home, cutting across country to miss the long detour.
On route, we spotted another Brocante at the side of the road, a small house with a separate section and feeling that we had not had a day out, we decided to stop and peruse his wares. It was a large unit, absolutely brimming full of objects and furniture; it was three storeys high into the roof. We spotted one glass vase for 30 Euros (which in the other Brocante we had seen a similar one for 70 Euros.) There were some lovely items and we enjoyed our visit in his shop, which took over an hour. We love old French furniture it is normally solid Oak and carved and very heavy, and so cheap in comparison to the modern made furniture.
Life in France!
1 comment:
Hey you.
Nice blog, but i miss one thing.
More photos......And maby, remove the Word Verification.
keep up the good work
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