Around the time of Christmas 2013 my parents decided to
invest in a holiday house in France; the centre of France within the Poitou-Charente
region to be specific. Talk about a great Christmas present. And this year we
decided to spend 3 weeks in the summer holidays there. I brought along my
friend Maddie who I share a dormitory with at school and she loved it. It was
pretty different to anything she had experienced before with the food, the
places we went to etc.
Our main goal
this time was to find furniture for the house because before it was just an
old, empty and cold building which needed a little tlc. So to make it a nice, warm, chic getaway we have to
find affordable furnishing that fits the house and brings out its vintage
charms.
To begin the
hunt we went to brocante (better known in England as brick-a-brack) sales all
over the region in search for old, somewhat tired furniture and decorations
which we hoped would fit the attire of the house.
Now some of you
may be familiar with the ways of the French on a Sunday; because of the religious
ways of living absolutely nothing opens. Anyone would think that the towns are
run down because there is simply no movement nor life. But we were lucky enough
to stumble across a brocante sale in the well-known town of Ruffec. My mum was
acting like a little child in a sweet shop there. She was ooing and awing at
the amazing furniture which was before us. However I was more mesmerised by the
set up of everything. Residents of the town had literally brought out a couple
of tables which were covered with a small table cloth and placed on them items
they wanted to rid. They must me crazy wanting to get rid of some of things which were out-
retro sunglasses, old candelabras, gold picture frames, botanical bottles, vintage dishes and
tea sets. I’m talking things which you wouldn’t even be able to find in good
vintage shops over here.
And as we walked
round, with the glorious sunshine beating down on our bare shoulders, our noses
followed a trail of a sweet sweet scent. A little old lady with her daughter
was selling the most amazing cakes and pastries. The pastries all laid out like
multi coloured tiles and the elephantine meringues all piled on top of one
another. They looked like mountains which were covered with a light dusting of snow. But there were 3
different types. Cocoa, almond or
natural (plain). Of course I chose the almond one, I mean they were caramelised
almonds which marbled the white textured meringue.
Never in our
lives had we experienced anything quite like this. But apart from the food that day I bought 2
vintage rose and botanical pictures which were in a thin encrusted gold frame
for 12 euros for both, a hand weaved bracelet for 2 euros and 2 retro cameras
for 5 euros for both.
