Vaucluse Dreamer

More by luck than judgement, the first Sunday of our holiday this summer happened to coincide with the final day of this year’s International Art & Antiques Fair in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue.

I must admit that I’d realised the ‘happy coincidence’ a few months ago and had been looking forward to spending a morning pottering around the stalls, but felt it was best not to tell the boys who tend to suffer from ‘market-overload’ whenever we visit the area.

We realised it was quite an event when (on our way to our gite) we were diverted around the town centre, as the main road was closed to traffic and was packed with stalls and gazebos displaying all manner of works of art and antiques – it looked fascinating.

On the Sunday morning we made our way through the back lanes to the town by bike, which proved to be a much better option than driving, as the parking had looked a bit chaotic when we had passed through the day before. Also the boys had opted to go for a cycle together & then stay by the pool at the gite, which meant my hubby & I were free to browse in peace …… what bliss!!

The town’s general market was already in full-swing, filling the narrow streets and squares with the wonderful colour, sounds and scents of Provence…….

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…………..whilst the area normally housing the Brocante stalls had been extended and stalls were spread all along (and across) the streets bordering the old town, also taking over the Parc Gautier, which was also filled with stands.

There is a Visitors’ Guide, which lists the stall-holders and other exhibitors and where to find them, although even with this we didn’t manage to see it all this time – as there are well over 140!! – just to give you a taste of some of the stands that were there a copy of this summer’s guide is available here http://www.foire-islesurlasorgue.com/images/GV-AOUT2015-WEB.pdf

There is something wonderful about browsing through the wide range of items for sale with wonderful antiques sitting quite naturally next to more contemporary crafts and works of art. I must admit that I quickly appreciated the fact that we had come by bike, as our lack of ability to carry items home meant our bank balance remained pretty much intact, which probably wouldn’t have been the case if we’d brought the car !

Where do I start with what was on offer

And all these sitting side by side with a flock of fluorescent sheep and a funky red crocodile in the wonderful display outside my favourite shop ‘Cote Parc’

We were wandering through the stalls for a couple of hours, which certainly wasn’t enough time for us to really get to grips with everything that was there. In fact we didn’t manage to get into the Parc Gautier at all, which was such a shame as there were so many stands arranged across it, ranging from antiques to contemporary art exhibits and I would have loved to have had more time to browse around them.

To be honest next time (and there will be a next time!) we’ll just arrive earlier or arrange to pop over for a special visit, as I know I could happily spend hours just browsing what’s on offer and fill our house with lovely and unusual finds. I’ll also make better use of the Fair’s dedicated website, which seems to have a lot of information on the event and exhibitors too http://www.foire-islesurlasorgue.com/

I think though that to make things as easy as possible we’ll continue to visit by bike – at least until I win the lottery!!

I’m happy to be able to share this through the #CityTripping linkup via wandermum.co.uk