OK so this isn't really anything like a pleasant walk in the woods nor does it show pretty scenery. Just thought you folks like to have a gander at what a French Boot fair looks like.
Sunday (9th June) I woke up around 8.30am with that familiar "Somewhere a boot fair is happening without me" scent in the air. So I dug out the book that is published each year that lists all the boot fairs in the Calavdos, Orne & Manche regions of the Basse Normande Dept. It lists where the village is and the number of seller tables they expect to have at each. Handy eh?
A brief glance through it and I saw there was one at St Germain de Creoult with 200+ sellers. This was about 10 miles from where I currently live. So I loaded up the shoulder bag with carrier bags (for rusty tools) dropped in an apple and set off in the car with the anticipation of some retail therapy.
I parked in a field about 400m away and wandered though the shut off road barriers to the crowded lanes filled with sellers on both sides of the road and in the fields behind them. None of this Tesco's carpark on a bleak Sunday morning. They do it properly over here, making it a family event. The committee de fete organises the Vide Grenier (Meaning - empty [your] attic)
They often lash out and set up a bar-be-Que selling sausage in a baguette or a meal involving pork chops and chips. Even the modest boot fairs do this.
They also get a bar set up that serves beers, soft drinks, wines and coffee. The marquee behind is where people can sit in comfort and eat their meal. I had a sausage in a baguette for €2.50 and stood at the bar with a mate of mine who I met there chatting over a coke and a lager.
You get your usual sellers of household goods, some traders also join in but most people avoid them simply because they know they're traders which they could see at any local market. You get collectors selling coins and postcards and vinyl records too. These were located the big building behind the bar-b-Que. I bought myself a handful of old English per-decimal coins including a 1 penny dated 1862. Nice little bit of memorabilia and no, I'm not a coin collector, just like old things like that. Speaking of which - I think this seller's table would make most of you drool. I've seen him several times and bought a drawknife off him 4 years ago that is just a delight to use.
Crate full of big adzes.
And some double bits axes amongst the rust.
Try not to drool too much over the picture below people.
For a Sunday in June it was a bit cold because it was so overcast and most people were walking about in hats and winter coats, but you had the usual numpty wearing T-shirt and shorts pretending he wasn't freezing his nuts off.... So perhaps in some respects French Boot fairs are very like the ones in the UK after all.
Came home with a nice haul consisting of :-
1 take-down tomahawk
2 drawknifes
3 DVDs
1 German Army issue leather belt
13mm drill chuck & key
3 Hickory (new) axe handles
1 rusted, but salvageable Dutch oven.
and other bits and bobs
Retail therapy was satiated ... until the next time.
Thanks for reading.
Sunday (9th June) I woke up around 8.30am with that familiar "Somewhere a boot fair is happening without me" scent in the air. So I dug out the book that is published each year that lists all the boot fairs in the Calavdos, Orne & Manche regions of the Basse Normande Dept. It lists where the village is and the number of seller tables they expect to have at each. Handy eh?
A brief glance through it and I saw there was one at St Germain de Creoult with 200+ sellers. This was about 10 miles from where I currently live. So I loaded up the shoulder bag with carrier bags (for rusty tools) dropped in an apple and set off in the car with the anticipation of some retail therapy.
I parked in a field about 400m away and wandered though the shut off road barriers to the crowded lanes filled with sellers on both sides of the road and in the fields behind them. None of this Tesco's carpark on a bleak Sunday morning. They do it properly over here, making it a family event. The committee de fete organises the Vide Grenier (Meaning - empty [your] attic)
They often lash out and set up a bar-be-Que selling sausage in a baguette or a meal involving pork chops and chips. Even the modest boot fairs do this.
They also get a bar set up that serves beers, soft drinks, wines and coffee. The marquee behind is where people can sit in comfort and eat their meal. I had a sausage in a baguette for €2.50 and stood at the bar with a mate of mine who I met there chatting over a coke and a lager.
You get your usual sellers of household goods, some traders also join in but most people avoid them simply because they know they're traders which they could see at any local market. You get collectors selling coins and postcards and vinyl records too. These were located the big building behind the bar-b-Que. I bought myself a handful of old English per-decimal coins including a 1 penny dated 1862. Nice little bit of memorabilia and no, I'm not a coin collector, just like old things like that. Speaking of which - I think this seller's table would make most of you drool. I've seen him several times and bought a drawknife off him 4 years ago that is just a delight to use.
Crate full of big adzes.
And some double bits axes amongst the rust.
Try not to drool too much over the picture below people.
For a Sunday in June it was a bit cold because it was so overcast and most people were walking about in hats and winter coats, but you had the usual numpty wearing T-shirt and shorts pretending he wasn't freezing his nuts off.... So perhaps in some respects French Boot fairs are very like the ones in the UK after all.
Came home with a nice haul consisting of :-
1 take-down tomahawk
2 drawknifes
3 DVDs
1 German Army issue leather belt
13mm drill chuck & key
3 Hickory (new) axe handles
1 rusted, but salvageable Dutch oven.
and other bits and bobs
Retail therapy was satiated ... until the next time.
Thanks for reading.
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