simply-chateau: Treasures, tea .......and a lack of sea!!!!

Up early today to go brocanting and stepped out into a miserable dark morning spitting with rain - darker due to advancing our clocks one hour the previous night. Fortunately the first call was a brocante held under cover so the rain wasn`t a problem! We caught many sellers as they arrived and so had the first choice of the items they were unloading. The tiny little cafe was already serving hot steaming coffee and hot red wine for breakfast! Definitely a 'cafe' for me, although Mark seemed to have more of a spring in his step after a glass of the wine!!

As the rain was stopping we moved on to the second brocante of the day and I was delighted to meet up with a dealer who I hadn`t seen for years. After the traditional exchange of kisses and handshakes he pulled a box from his van which was full of some gorgeous old 19th century tickings that he had found in an attic clearance.
He also had the most delicious old chandelier dripping with lustres. I couldn't leave without them!

The boot of the car was soon filling up nicely with a batch of 19th century monogrammed panels, a lace sample book, silk boudoir shades, wall sconces and some fabulous old sepia written documents.

Delicious shabby chic treasures which I shall be listing during this coming week!

We arrived at the third brocante just as the sun was starting to peep through the clouds and immediately came across a divine pair of old hat stands with superb old paintwork and some sweet little silver locket brooches.

By this time we were flagging a little and as we live just 15 minutes from the coast we decided that coffee by the sea was definitely in order.
We drove to Carteret so that we could sit at one of our favourite cafes overlooking the marina - but, as you can, someone had stolen the sea.....................!!!