Top tips for 'How To Get Those Treasures Home'

I am often asked ‘just how hard is it to actually get your treasures home?’  For those planning to travel on my Brocante Tour this year, this is very useful information in the planning phase!

The short answer is that it's really not that hard!  All it takes is a bit of preparation.   

Firstly, what you or I think of as 'treasures' can be quite different sizes, shapes and degrees of shipping difficulty!  One woman's french linens is another woman's armoire!

More brocante tour planning ...

Welcome to 2014.   Not that you need a welcome from me!  That is probably more for my benefit ... now that the year has well and truly begun and I have hit the ground running in the organisation of the brocante tour.

Thank you all so much for emailing that you are interested in travelling with me to country Normandy for a guided tour of the brocantes and antique stores in this little corner of rural France.  Travelling through picturesque villages, staying in a pretty, rural manor house and finishing with a day in the Paris Puces of St Ouen together.

It's amazing ... from one little blog post pre-Christmas ... from an idea percolating for awhile ...

I love trawling through markets and fairs, but what I love more is sharing the experience with like-minded others.  And I want to share with you the 'learnings' I have gained from having importing french vintage and antique items to Australia ... for several years now ... both the successes and the expensive failures.  So you don't have to learn the same way!

I have had a lovely email from someone interesting in coming along who loves antique fabrics.   Instantly, I have two or three addresses in Paris and in Normandy that spring to mind to share with her.  If there's something that you'd like to specifically find, I can tailor our tour to make sure we include what you are looking for also.

I can also help you deal with the shippers so that your purchases (large or small!) arrive back home - wherever that be in the world.  I have learnt a few foibles Australian customs, in particular, that I can also share with you along the way - which may help with your buying choices!

This week I am working on a document of sorts I will send to you once you register interest.  It will have details of what we will be doing, where we're staying, what the trip includes and the like.

But just to let you know planning so far, our 4 day tour would look something like this:

You would be picked up from the local train station in Normandy, with all directions on how to get the 50 minute train ride from Paris having been pre-arranged.  And we'll be straight off to our first address!  Your accommodation will be at a beautiful little manor house B&B, and all lunches on the road, and dinner at your B&B will be included.  As will your transport and with a guide!

After breakfast each day, we will be going from 9am taking in brocantes and antique dealers throughout the day.  Although we may cover a lot of ground, each day we'll stop for lunch in a lovely country hotel or a busy little village bistrot.  It is France after all ... we couldn't possibly do a hurried lunch!  When you arrive back at 5 or 6pm each day, dinner will be prepared for you at the manor house.

On our last day I will take you to Paris to visit the famous markets in St-Ouen and Clignancourt.  As this area is so vast (and difficult to cover in one day) I can either recommend which areas to look through for something in particular you are after, or we can stroll through my hand-picked favourites.

I am really looking forward to showing you my favourites and to hosting you on this little trip in rural France.  If you would like to register your interest please drop me a line, as there is still room to come along!

Jennifer.
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{all images Vintage Finds}

Brocante Tour Planning: Would you like to stay here?

The planning for next year's tours continue and are coming together so well.

I've found a lovely little chateau for our accommodation - what do you think?  Would you like to retire here each night after we have walked for hours through Antique stores, Brocantes, fairs or markets?

Set on six hectares of parkland, it sleeps 5-6 guests and so will be just our little home away from home to re-group and swap stories about our finds throughout the day!

And each of the bedrooms are so pretty and tastefully decorated.  A dream to rest weary legs after all the kilometres we'll cover throughout the day!

Although it's intended for children - what do you think of this cute little tree house?

This is on the grounds of the chateau, and is extra accommodation for children.  It reminds me of something from 'The Hobbit' ... a little house in the Shire ... with Bilbo Baggins about to walk through the door!  Do you think?

If you like to register interest, please send me an email, and as the tour comes together I will send you more information.

All the best,
Jennifer.
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Adieu Woolloongabba et bonjour Brocante Tours!

Yesterday, and with considerable mixed emotions, I closed my little shop at the Woolloongabba Antique Centre for the summer.

I am planning to re-open in February after the summer school holidays - and all of the chaos that brings to my life!  We are just going to enjoy the next two months - without me regularly sourcing product and visiting the shop.

Some dear friends have rung straight away to ask - so how do I feel now that it is closed?

I think it will only be next Monday when I don't go in to tidy after the weekend's trade, and don't add some new finds and some fresh flowers - that it will really hit home.  Once the routine is broken - then I will know that I have really taken a step in a different direction!

But for now my head is spinning with plans for next year: finalising the online store, also a very fun project doing some pop-up stores around Brisbane in conjunction with other dealers, and yet another project organising a 'Brocante Tour' of Paris and France.

Yes, you have read correctly - after many requests for trips ideas, and asking to come with me - I am going to make it happen in 2014.  I am starting now to organise a little tour of the Paris markets, of some of my favourite stores, of some country brocantes and a few antiques fairs - with lots of delicious french food and wine along the way!

I will also be able to organise shipping for everyone who comes - to make sure all those treasures you would normally not fit in your luggage do arrive back home safe and sound!

In the planning phase now, and so exciting to be sharing a passion of mine, so please email me (click the email button at the top of the blog) if you would like to register interest at this early stage.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jennifer.
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{all images Vintage Finds}

Sometimes it really is the little things ...

On a buying trip like the one I have just been on, racing around Paris and the french countryside, sometimes it is the space, the pause, the time to breathe that you really appreciate.  The pace is generally quite quick - there is so much to be done while I am there - that I do enjoy opportunities to slow my eye, and seeing the smaller things around me too.

Walking through the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, with the perfectly manicured lawns that you are not allowed to stand on; it brought a smile to my lips to see these little 'untamed' flowers poking their heads through the blades of grass.

And walking through the fields of Normandy, with acres and acres of farm field vista in front of you, there is still a smaller and quieter perfection to be found - such as in these details in the blades of wheat.

Or in the wild grasses by the roadside, or the detail of a wild daisy in a field.

And on seeing these pretty oak flowers, realising that the significant hum in the air, was actually a tree full of bees!

And today, I had planned to be taking photos of some stock to show you, before I put it in the shop.  However, the light is bad, it's raining on and off, and just not the day to be taking furniture outside!

So with a camera in my hand and nothing to shoot, it's made me look again, back home in Brisbane.  At our own hedge of azaleas, that don't quite know whether to flower or not, or whether spring is here, because of this unseasonal winter rain we are having!

And look again at how pretty they are laden with water.

It doesn't always have to be the grand gestures or the sweeping vistas that make your heart sing.  Sometimes it really is just the little things.

Jennifer.

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{all images Vintage Finds}

Off to France ...

Marcigny, France image Vintage Finds

I am off to France very soon for more gorgeous french vintage finds.  I have been putting this trip off for a little while, as we have had a lot on this past year with travel to Africa and Japan, and all sorts of changes in our lives; I wanted to go at a time which was easiest on the whole family - not just good timing for me.  Well, my universe has aligned and this trip is falling into place rather fast.

Will update you more as I book.  But too excited not to share straight away!

Jennifer
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Notre Dame rings out again!

Just in time for this week's Easter traditions, the bells of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris are again ringing out since Palm Sunday this week.  Receiving the nine new bells in January, they have now been installed - in time also to celebrate the cathedral's 850th year.

{image Vintage Finds - taken September 2011}

Why were they replaced?  All but one of the original bells from this cathedral were melted down for coins and cannons in the French Revolution.  In the 19th century four others were added to this one original survivor - the effect being out of tune and often said more fitting for a country church than cathedral!

New bell's arrival in January 2013 {image via Associated Press}

So last Saturday, for the first time in two centuries, with these four removed and nine new and beautifully made now installed, on a cold but sunny Parisian afternoon, all ten bells pealed out to a crowd of thousands.

{image via Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris}

One large one came from the Netherlands, and the other eight from the foundry of artisan bell-maker Paul Bergamo in Normandy.

As you can imagine, France being a country which both celebrates and prides itself on it's artisan skills, it is amazing to hear of the skill required to make these bells and to think that these have all been formed and made to be in tune with that one surviving bell!

{image via Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris}

And although newly installed, from today they will now be silent again. Why?  Come back tomorrow to find out (here) and I'll share with you some French Easter traditions!

Jennifer.

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The best house in France

Want some great holiday voyeuristic browsing, then how about this.

Currently there is a television programme and competition on France2: "La maison des préférées des francais" (the favourite house of the French).  Along the lines of "I Own Britain's Best Home" and other series around the world, it is a TV and online competition for viewers to vote for the house that is their favourite.  With houses representing the 22 regions of France.  These are real houses belonging to real people.

In fact so real, that as it turns out, on my last buying trip to France in April, I have actually been to one of these.

Christelle owns the sweetest a little brocante in Normandy, that I can attest looks this beautiful and chic EVERY day of the year, and not just for the photographs!

All of the photos to this point, are Christelle's charming abode; it is house number 11 on the website.  There are many more to look at too, so once you've had a good look around, please vote for Christelle's!

If you would like to vote in the competition, just click away!

Click here

Here is another of the other french rooms I liked and some more pretty french houses from the competition...

bedroom in Ille de France 

house in Centre

house in Picardie

Enjoy!
Jennifer x

Les Tatin aux Echalotes and a busy weekend!

With the warmer weather arriving in Brisbane, and the school holidays coming up, we have launched back into dining outside on the verandah.  It's still a bit coolish as soon as the sun dips, so I was looking around for inspiration for an early Sunday evening dinner, that would work for children and adults, and that would be a little hearty.

{image Vintage Finds}

Et voilà! my lovely friend Sharon Santoni, who writes a gorgeous blog My French Country Home, about her life with horses, children and dogs in the heart of Normandy in France, posted a fabulous recipe for tarte aux échalotes - slowly caramelised shallots made into an upside down tarte (similar to tarte tatin but savoury).

I made these in individual tartlets to accompany a lemon and garlic roast chicken, homemade chicken gravy, roast potatoes - and to lighten the meal a little - a 'fresh from the garden' lettuce salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

I had every intention of taking 'cooking in progress' photos, but after a few Pimms and lemonades in the lovely weather, and chatting to good friends, as always - that went out the window!   So instead I only have Sharon's lovely photos, and her post and recipe can be found here!

Ooh, and my shipment from my buying trip in France in May has now arrived at port and will be arriving here shortly - so expect lots of lovely photos to come both here and on FB!


Have a lovely start to your week!
Jennifer.
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Normandy Finds ... On the hunt ...

A quick post to share some of my finds in Normandy last weekend.   Sometimes when I am searching things are presented so beautifully, I just want it all!

And other times it is literally finding a hidden gem in a outbuilding or a haystack of furniture!

And then, there are some absolute treasures the owners just won't part with!

Either way - find things - I do!  And here's some of the gems I have found so far.