Spending a morning covered in mud at Chambord castle after almost ten days on the road made me want to restart this blog.
This buying trip was hard, exhausting and very messy but it was worth it!
I think the romantic fantasy for antiaue collectors is that we spend all our time on long empty sunny country roads before swinging by a charming stone village in our vintage 2CV where we bargain for antiaues with locals whilst enjoying local wine, baguettes and gauloises. It is actually like that sometimes but really not very often (though we have a modern car, don't smoke or drink much).
We went first to Amiens in the north of France where the spring wind was strong, freezing cold and didn't stop. The arctic conditions didn't stop us buying though! Then we crossed back across the country to Normandy. It was less windy but the sky was dark grey the whole time. We went home to rest and unpack for a few days before heaading off again to Chambord for the famous 1st of May brocante. We were hoping the sun might put in an appearance but that didn't happen. Instead... well, the pictures below give a flavour. By the end of the day we were cold, soaking wet and covered in mud.
I found several amazing things : some cilices (I had been dreaming of finding some for years) and an extremely rare statue of St Therese of Lisieux. More on that in the next post.
The thing is... I actually love my job and the objects I find; I really like having them, even if it's only for a short time before I find them a new home to go to. For the minute I'm happy to have all this on display in my office!
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