Tickled pink..................................

It must be Spring at last! The first batch of swallows have started to return,  swooping in and out of the barns, the garden is full of wild primrose and the magnolia trees are in full blossom.
I have just looked at my stock to list next week and realise that I appear to have subconsciously truffled out a hoard of pale pink treasures without realising I was doing it........so it MUST be Spring!!
But oooooooh la la - they are all divine......!!

The softest pale pink silk 19th century corset top............

......pink ribbons and trims in the softest hues......................

.....divine vintage corsage flowers in velvet and silk.............

....and rose pink evening gloves with a tiny jewel trim.

Plus a whole array of 1930s lingerie lace in the palest of pinks to rich rose colour..............

....and gentle old handworked creamy tea-coloured collars and cuffs to co-ordinate. I  also have the most divine roll of 1930s corset satin that has never been used.

So that`s it; Spring has sprungen!!     if you don`t keep a close eye on me I will be shredding newspapers in a corner to make a nest!!!

A la prochaine............

L`Epicerie Parisienne............

How I adore this beautiful 'Epicerie' in the local market town of Bricquebec. I have passed it many times on trips to the town's regular Monday morning produce market, with its stalls winding their way down the central cobbled street. Today I stopped outside to take a few photographs only for the charming lady owner to come out moments later and invite me inside to take more photographs.

The proud owners of this wonderful shop are Monsieur and Madame Lenoir ...............

..........and they have every right to be proud! It is a wonderful building that has been lovingly restored and filled with amazing period pieces all carefully chosen so as to mix with the original features that were already in place. Entering the shop is like stepping back in time.

If someone had happened to walk in  wearing a bustle and bonnet it would not have looked out of place! The choice of produce is amazing, the quality first class. Wonderful wine cellars, fabulous delicatessen and groceries. The fruit and vegetables come from local producers and couldn`t be any fresher! But best of all is the range of fromage................

.......now this is what I call fromage!!!!!

The wine cellars are stocked with a stunning choice.......

.....and tucked away in a tiny back room is this exquisite 19th century church window.....how I'd love to own it!!!!

I can`t think of anywhere better to shop; its such a pleasure.

So..... when you visit Normandie you simply have to take a trip to this amazing store:
                                               L`Epicerie Parisienne
                                                           6 Rue Armand Leveel
                                                           BRICQUEBEC
                                                           www.epicerie-parisienne.com

But do call me first so you can take my shopping list too!

No Easter bunny....................

I had the choice of two brocantes to visit yesterday. One had been advertised as a couturiers` brocante,  the other a sale of vintage clothing. Last year the vintage clothing sale hadn`t been too good so we decided to start at the couturier event. We set off expecting it to be knitting needles and dress patterns but WOW...... as soon as I entered the hall I knew I was going to be able to buy. I almost felt that panic of where should I run to first as I scanned the stands and saw some divine treasures for sale!!!! I thought I knew most of the antique textile sellers in the region but there were many  faces I didn't recognize. Advertised as just a small "salle de fetes" village hall sale - the first time such an event had been organised in that town - but which turned out to be simply amazing, the stands brimming over with old textiles, trims, ribbons, buttons, lace and frou frou fripperies. This is what it must be like in textile heaven..............

The hall began to fill up with other textile buyers. Quick...quick....quick.....panic....!!!!!!!

So as it got busier I just got my head down and did what I do best...truffle for treasures!

One very sweet lady was selling the contents of an old lingerie shop, her stand full of  beautiful vintage soft pink confections, all from the 1930s. She had a wonderful roll of  satin for corset-making, rose pink lingerie lace and ribbon trims, runs of tiny hooks and eyes on rose linen. Needless to say I almost cleaned her out! The goods are simply divine - and to find so much in one place was quite rare. Poor Mark had to keep humping huge bags of delights back out to the car!

By the time we finally left the hall it was so packed with visitors that you could hardly move.

We set off  for what I believed would be simply a cursory visit to the clothing sale which was held in village sports hall, more to stop and have a coffee and to say 'bonjour' to everyone rather than expecting to find anything.  But what a surprise! We walked in to find the hall virtually silent but with tables full of gorgeous 19th century costumes and textiles. The organiser, who is a member of the local historical (hysterical!) society, had managed to raid the attic of a local chateau. So under much less pressure than at the first venue we sauntered from table to table - and bought even more divine items................

The volunteers from the 'society' who were manning the stands told me that I had missed some amazing old coats that had belonged to the former Marquis himself. But, do you know what? I can`t be in two places at once can I? It was just wonderful to wander at my own pace without the panic of other textile dealers on my tail!

I bought some amazing old "boucherie" (butchers) shirts dating from the 1930s, some stunning corsetted costume pieces and some quirky monogrammed sleeves that were made and kept in stock at the chateau to be added to the footmens' coats.  Later , after filling more bags to the brim, we sat with the volunteer ladies for a cafe and homemade cake -  and I can`t think of a better way to spend an Easter Lundi.

So after my little illness last year and my hospital stay I cannot eat chocolat anymore; and believe me, I was THAT chocoholic!! If there was 'chocolat' within a  3 mile radius I could hear it whispering to me! I could easily have been frogmarched to a 'chocoholics anonymous' meeting where I would have stood up and confessed: " My name is Shirley Wells - and I am a chocoholic". So the Easter bunny didn`t visit me this year.....................

Or did he?!!!!!! Perhaps he sent his brother - the brocanting bunny?

I shall not be blogging for the next couple of days whilst I make a quick trip back to England. 'A la prochaine.......................!!!'

Pig in the trough........................

Midnight.....................................Heavens what a day!!! Up at the crack of dawn for 2 very special brocantes that only happen once a year. One was a couturiers brocante filled with amazing textiles, trims, costume and ribbons and the other a textile brocante with stunning treasures unloaded from a local chateau! Mark said I looked as happy as a pig in a trough!!!! The car is bulging with wonderful treasures and I am delighted to say the least. A quick dash home just in time to change to go out for a wonderful supper with wonderful friends. Needless to say I am in a heap and will give you some pics and details of my finds tomorrow!!! I need my bed...................................

Easter Renoirs and a little silk...............

Off to a village brocante at 6.00am and it wasn`t looking good. Last night was lashing rain and howling wind so I think alot of people that would have loaded their cars to take a stand had decided it would still be just as bad this morning. But when we stepped out into the breaking dawn this morning it was dry and the wind had dropped.
We arrived at the tiny village just as the cars were pulling in and people who live there were just emptying their barns and garages. A quick march around the stands truffled out very little and it wasn`t looking too promising................oh well....it can`t always be good!!! I wished I had stayed in bed rolled over and had a lie in!
I walked past a little old lady just as she was unpacking and saw her unload some pretty prints in old gold frames. I carried on walking to see who else had unloaded further down the street and on the way back decided to stop and look closer at the prints. I was delighted to find they were not prints but were all silk pictures................

All softly muted and so pretty. Some with Renoir tags and some with Manet tags.............

All in wonderful condition and a set of five in all.............

She told me they had come from the house of her great "tante" and she had found them when she emptied the old house in the village. So cheered up by these little treasures I kept on walking and searching.

A few more quirky finds later......................

I decided it wan`t such a bad morning after all. So it was home for steaming hot coffee and a croissant armande and a day of photographing my finds for my auctions. Helped of course ( or is that hindered?!!!) by The Baron!

Chocolat..........

Our local patisserie has been transformed for Easter which is called Fete de Paques here.................

Monsieur Guerin the patissier is also a master chocolatier.................how many hours has he spent on these divine confections? When we go out brocanting early at weekends we can see him working away through the frosted glass of his kitchen .....even at 4am..............

Everything hand-made and wrapped in cellophane with ribbons..............

I could sit and pig out on that beautiful huge chicken.......all alone!

His creations are always such fun all with quirky additions........

and of course the choice is always enormous.............

Even if I go in there with the intention of simply buying a baguette I always seem to come out carrying a ribbon tied box of his confections!!

Happy Easter!!!!

Windmills, moulins and tapestries.......................

I feel a little like an estate agent saying this but......................in Bayeaux the small Normandie town famous for the tapestry, a place where they have gorgeous little shops where I have many times spent an absolute fortune, a place where they wrap your purchases with ribbons and bows, the place where my favourite Patisserie in the world is.....Patisserie Mathilde with its gilded mirrors and delicious gateaux, the place where I got a parking ticket for staying too long shopping and the list goes on.................so get on with it Madame!!!!
Okay I`ll get to the point! This divine old windmill has just come on the market for sale. Tucked away somewhere in the rabbit warren of cobbled streets and on offer at 98,000 euros....................thats £87,000 pounds or $133,000....................

You could open a quaint tea rooms, you could open a chambre d`hote, you could start milling flour and produce traditional wood oven cooked bread, you could just live in it. You that is.....not ME....I have had enough of renovations and we are not even a quarter of a way through this place yet. But someone I know has to buy it so I can visit!!!

Dear tedandbunny.....you could buy this and I could come for tea....the chickens could learn to swim..I can just see you peering out from that little window.

Dear boisfleurie.....you could buy it too and I could come for tea....think of all those shops.

Dear Tartelette, you could buy it and I will look after it while you are back in the States. When you are here I could come for tea.

Yours desperate to see inside the mill and have tea overlooking the mill wheel.

simply-chateau

Just slap me............................

For the last three days I have had something on my mind. Why....oh why? Please tell me why (at the early morning brocante last Sunday) did I walk away from something wonderful? And its bugging me big time ever since!


I had bought some beautiful things and perhaps that`s why I did it. Perhaps I thought I already had enough ‘gorgeousness’ for that day and something else wonderful was just too much? Perhaps I have a subconscious limit to the amount of gorgeous I can have in one day?!!!

There was another decorative antiques dealer from Paris at the same brocante that morning searching for treasures like me - and although I do not know her name we are on nodding terms. She seems to buy the same things as I do – and has beautiful stock. When I do chance upon her selling at a fair she is just too expensive for me to buy from and she is always reluctant to do a deal with me. She is never really friendly - simply very business-like but perhaps that is just the way she is.


When we do meet, we acknowledge each other, nodding politely as we pass, and it seems an unspoken rule that if one of us is at a certain stand the other passes by or waits at a distance until the other has finished. I wonder what would happen if there was some exquisite piece that we arrived upon at the same time? Would we both back off in a genteel manner to allow the other to buy first? Or would be both dive into a full brawl fist fight with the one having the best right hook winning the item?

And so back to my " bete noire" that has been niggling me for days. A 19th century domed glass frame that housed an exquisitely-carved winged angel. All original, the back intact and never having been opened from the day it was made and, at the bottom, an oyster shell beniter holy water tray. I picked it up and said how exquisite it was but then, for some mad reason, put it down and walked away.


About 20 minutes later I realised how mad I had been and went back to buy it. I arrived at the stand just in time to see the Paris lady pay and put it in her bag. I was absolutely gutted.


So.......am I bugged because I didn`t buy it when I should have OR am I bugged because ‘she’ bought it instead of me? Do I need a slap for not buying it or a slap for being selfish, jealous and greedy? Let me know what you think!

Anyway, I wanted it……...so just slap me!!!!