Seller at the Brocante
Another sign of spring is the return of the brocantes and the vide greniers. Most Sunday fairs are a mixture of both, the professional sellers and the families just trying to earn a few euros selling old books and the usual household stuff. Stalls are set up around the market place of villages, interspersed with buvettes where you can sit awhile and try the local wines.
This Sunday there was a large fair in Azé, which is a large wine village to the southeast of Cormatin. The sellers were having a hard time today as the weather has turned cold and rainy, but for the hardy buyer there was a treasure trove to discover. I rather wish I was setting up a country pub as there was an amazing collection of horse collars and farming tools.
Sometimes, though, you doubt that anyone sells anything all day because the prices asked are sometimes ridiculously high. Especially for the cracked plates and useless junk that you or I would have thrown away years ago. But, you never know, it’s worth looking as there just might be something you can’t live without.
But these fairs bring life to the village and become social events where friends and neighbours meet up and sit down round a table together (today to get out of the rain!). Some of the vendeurs are real characters. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this chap with his eclectic wares
