Showing posts with label village. Show all posts
Showing posts with label village. Show all posts

Saturday 28 May 2016

Markets and vide-greniers

First...and last coffee of the day. No time!



I had a lovely Saturday recently on the Central coast of New South Wales attending the French Country Market, held on the grounds of the Chertsey primary school. I booked and ran a stall and it was a pleasure to spend the day chatting to fellow francophiles about my book and our French house, which we have on holiday let.

French Country Market - Chertsey


Our little stall in Chertsey


We were clearly the amateur stand alongside the well-polished stalls! The last time that we had done something similar was when we were living in France and we participated in the Talloires vide-grenier, literally 'empty attic', the equivalent of a whole village garage sale.

Vide-grenier - Talloires



Similarities
  • Both days were in May and, for us as stallholders, they started at the crack of dawn, were amazingly tiring but were brilliant fun. 
  • We sold more than we were expecting!
  • Both were friendly places where people happily stopped to chat and swap stories. 








Our little stall in Talloires, looking out over the Annecy Lake.
Differences
  • The weather... A few days out of winter here in Australia, and despite the fact that I started the day wearing a coat and jumper, by 9 o'clock I was wishing that I had dressed in shorts and tee-shirt.
  • The setting - as the photos attest - French village v. Australian bush.
  • Australians don't haggle like the French do!