Basking in the Braderie de Lille

After years of planning, my friend Min and I made the pilgrimage to the holiest of holies of flea markets in Europe: Braderie de Lille  

The journey rewarded us with more than we could have asked for including epiphany treasures, English china, picture frames and holy water fonts. Not to mention the delicious food and beautiful faces of Lille. Most importantly it gave us an escape from our every day lives to enjoy the kinder side of France and all the possibility she holds. 

We had coffee and croissants every morning for breakfast, chips for lunch and a variety of gastric pleasures for dinner. The most important being the moules-frites, which even I tried!  

The sun shone and we were completely in our element, and with disposable cameras in hand we captured our adventure: 

Min bargaining adeptly in French. 

Hostel Gastama in the old town. Min knows how to book 'em. 

New luggage to bring our loot back to the UK.

Breakfast of champions!

It's not a festival until someone is breathing fire. 

Resting my feet while I string together some of Min's broken chandelier crystals.

Min's new Tuscan china, circa 1930. Find of the weekend.

We're everywhere. 

...and so are we. Viva la Mexico!
(Incidentally the best Mexican I've had in Europe to date.)

One of the cooler toilets I've seen on my journeys.

Fin.

                                          

Beautification Modification

 I have a chair I have been working on for a few years now. It travels with us everywhere we travellers move. It has become a despised part of the family. That chair is still only partly refurbished, but I found this little £4 investment in an estate sale stall on Thursday and couldn't let it be. I knew I could finish it in a day and proved that to be true. With a bit of the Annie Sloan paint and wax (I have been lusting after for a year or so) and a bit of eBay fabric I transformed this little ditty: 

Before

                               

After

 It's a fantastic herringbone. Listening to WWZ on audible the time flew by. That paint dries really quickly and is truly fun to work with. I am definitely sold on the Annie Sloan stuff. The colour I used is original.

Car Boot Booty

In the absence of yards...yard sailing is not an option in the UK. However, all is not lost because of the wonderful things that are car boot sales! Here is some of my prize booty from this morning at Farmer Palmer's:

    

It's always fate when a story has your name in it. 

Vintage finery. 

Compton Acres

 Just down the road from us is the finest privately owned garden in the South. In spite of what experience tells a Californian, Compton can be rather lovely.

Italian Garden 

Japanese Garden

The Heather Garden

  

Solitaire 

Compton Acres

Vintage Voyages

This cold snap that's attacked England this week means I've been dreaming of spring. I finally asked Daniel to help me load some photos off my old blackberry from last year and found a jaunt my good friend Min and I took to Spitalfields Market and the flower market on Columbia Road last spring in March or May time. Here's a look of some of the gems we found that day:

Vintage Heaven

 Our true reason for visiting the flower market. Min had discovered it a few weeks earlier and demanded I visit it. It delivered the best treasure I found all year: 

Carlight Trailers, by Tuscan 1950's. Every Carlight trailer used to come with a set of china. Height of caravaning excellence if you ask me. 

Enjoying a sip in the back of the shop while I considered just how many tea cups I would purchase.

A very foxy haberdasher indeed!

Min in one of the many adorable garden shops.

Spitalfields Market