Brocantes bargains! How to shop at French flea markets (2024)

Shopping at French flea markets or brocantes can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to furnish your home. The thrill of bagging a bargain or finding that perfect piece to finish a room is unmatched. There’s something wonderful about filling the space with pieces that are not only beautiful but also carry with them the memories of your holiday.

Owning a house clearance business in my twenties meant buying and selling became second nature to me. In my thirties I moved on to running an antiques and interior shop and in my forties I opened Domestic Science, a home and lifestyle store that offers a mix of old and new. Today I have three shops in the Cotswolds, but the excitement of sourcing unique items has never left me. I still relish the hunt and the joy of discovering something special. Many of the things I buy for the stores have a “resting period” at home with me until I’m ready to part with them.

Having one-off vintage pieces dotted about your home brings a sense of informality through their imperfections. I love things that have been around the block a few times — each layer of paint or scratch tells a different story, much like the wrinkled face of an elderly relative.

My love of French antiques grew when I spent holidays in Normandy with a close friend and our young children. These trips soon became busman’s holidays, with every visit becoming an opportunity for a new haul. When my friend moved to Normandy permanently, I became even more familiar with the area’s antiques fairs and shops, regularly making trips and filling my estate car and roof rack with treasures. Later my search extended to the Ardèche region, where another friend had a holiday home. The picturesque landscapes and charming markets offered new adventures and further fuelled my love of the hunt.

In France, the majority of the country holidays in August. Antiquing is something of a national pastime for the locals, so the August brocantes are especially fruitful. The French have set dates annually for these markets. Some are small village affairs that ramble through all the lanes — these are closest in style to American yard sales: the selling occurs in the driveway or pavement in front of people’s houses. Others take place in a field and commonly have stalls selling merguez frites and wine in plastic cups. These often happen on the weekend, but during August there are also lots of weekday flea markets to be found.

You can ask in the local tabac (newsagent) for a small book or magazine that lists the local brocantes in that area, or look on brocanciel.fr or BrocaBrac. Once you find a market, the rules of engagement are much like bargain hunting in the UK: a smile goes a long way and basic French always helps. Do some mental arithmetic before suggesting a total price and try to be realistic. Don’t insult the dealers with silly prices. Some of the markets last for three days — naturally, the prices become more negotiable as time goes on.

I always try to trust my instincts when making a deal. Consider whether you would regret not buying the item later. What is it worth to you? Often the price will be much better than at an antiques fair in the UK, and you’ve already invested time and travel. Also think about what you would pay for a new item; you’ll likely realise it’s good value. Plus, vintage items hold their value and are probably superior in quality and finish to something similar but brand new.

Five tips for shopping at French flea markets

• Rummage — don’t expect items to be all laid out for you. Look behind and underneath things. You’ve either got the bug for a rummage or you haven’t.
• Go with a mental shopping list of things you want for your house or a specific project — it helps you to focus. Some of the fairs are huge, so it can feel overwhelming. I always leave room for the odd spontaneous purchase as well.
• Measure before you go — if you’re looking for specific items for your house, also make sure to measure gaps before you leave home. There’s nothing worse than bringing back a dream piece only to find it doesn’t quite fit. Take photos of the area you are sourcing for, as well as minimum and maximum dimensions the item can be.
• Always take a tape measure with you, and a notebook can be useful too.
• Take cash — most sellers prefer it and will be more likely to cut you a better deal for readies.

Useful translations

Keep your eyes peeled for posters on the approach to and around the town for anything featuring the below:

• Marché aux puces — flea market
• Vide grenier — loft clearance
• Brocante — can mean open-air flea market or bricks-and-mortar antique shop
• Foire à tout — equivalent to an English boot sale
• Depôts vente — buildings where second-hand goods are sold. Some are small while others are massive, offering a mix of new and old. Quite often they sell on commission for customers, so prices are not always negotiable.

Five finds to look out for

• A wonderful shell-shaped basin — such a brilliant decorative piece
• Huge faux bamboo mirrors — you can find these quite easily
• Little floral still-life paintings — again, these are easy to pick up at most markets and suitcase friendly if you’re flying
• Beautiful antique textiles — I can never resist!
• End-of-roll vintage wallpapers — these formed the inspiration for my debut wallpaper collection, which launched last month, but can also be used as luxury wrapping paper or to line cupboards

… and five to avoid

• Electricals — it may be too complicated to convert because the UK has a different plug system
• Things you don’t love but which seem incredibly good value — only buy what you love
• Items that need too much work — restoration is costly. It’s better to buy something that’s ready to go and shell out a bit more for it
• Upholstered furniture that needs more than new fabric — replacing springs and anything structural ends up costing a lot
• Anything you don’t have room for in your house — if you can’t place it in your mind while at the market, it’s unlikely that space will manifest by the time you arrive home

Favourite French markets

Barjac
From the town square the antiques fair sprawls through the little medieval side roads and upper terraces with fabulous views. Prices are higher at the start but you’ve got the pick of the bunch. You get what you pay for! August 14-18, Barjac, Gard

Carpentras
There’s a great variety of things for sale in this town near Avignon. I found lots of wonderful old quilts here. Not much shade though, so remember to bring sun cream. Every Sunday 10am-4pm (busiest before lunch; some stallholders don’t stay all afternoon). Les Platanes, Allées Jean Jaures, Carpentras, Vaucluse

Bayeux
Lovely historic town with lots to see. August 11, Place Saint-Patrice, Bayeux, Normandy

This summer Libs Lewis launched her debut wallpaper collection inspired by French flea market finds, domesticsciencehome.co.uk