The countess with no linens..................................

Up before the lark today and out into the early morning mist for the first of two brocantes......

The sun was just breaking through as we crossed the river.  The first call was a vide grenier in the grounds of a local chateau. Our local newspaper has advertised that the Countess would be having a stand full of linens in aid of the Croix Rouge.....

The driveway to the chateau was already filling up with the early buyers. I searched for the Countess but no sign of her stand. There were no treasures to be found on the 40 or so stands already set up, so rather than leave and miss the linens we filled the time with a coffee , then another, then another!

We joked that perhaps there would be a fanfare of trumpets and the Countess would come down the drive in a sedan chair filled with textiles!

But no, she drove down in her small car, stepped out in her neat tweed suit and pearls and unpacked box after box of.............................................plants!!!! Not a linen in sight!!!

What a disappointment!!! So we went hot foot to the next brocante hoping we were not too late to miss the early finds.

We arrived just as the Mayor and his assistants were unloading the contents of the ancient library of the "Mairie" town hall and out came the most delicious early books............

All early 1800s and covered in parchment. Printed in Paris and simply divine.

Who needs the Countess and her imaginary linens!!!!!