About three weeks ago posters started appearing around Walmer and Deal announcing that a brocante was to be held on Walmer Green on Bank Holiday Monday. I thought this was a wonderful idea as it would be fun to browse around the many stalls and then enjoy the beach which was only a hundred yards away. It was nice that the word brocante was being used again as of late I felt that it had dropped out of use a little. The dictionary notes brocante as a French noun which describes a second hand market, the middle child between a car boot sale and an antiques fair.
The 31st of August 2021 dawned not as a beautiful late summer’s day but a damp grey day with a very brisk wind blowing in from the sea. Walmer Green is about a ten minutes walk from where we live so off we went with Captain Scott and Captain Oates and a few huskies in tow. To my surprise the brocante was far bigger than I thought it would be with upwards of sixty stalls set up by around nine in the morning. Caron and I split up as we always do when visiting events such as this so that we might pursue our own passions.
At this time of year in Deal we have many visitors from other parts of the country chasing the sun and truthfully I expected to see a large number of them at the brocante. But I was wrong as the event seemed to be populated by what I fondly term Guardian Readers (you know middle class, left leaning with a passion for the original blue French street signs). They were fussing over darling vintage chimney stacks (I am not an expert of chimneys but I think you will get my drift). As normal I drifted along the full length of the first parade (there were three) just watching the world go by with very little intention of purchasing anything. But then in a rather damp cardboard box I saw a small figurine (head and shoulders) dating from the 1920/30s which although very slightly damaged was exquisite. It was only a pound so I purchased it and placed it snugly in my sensible bag.
In the distance I could see Caron looking at some retro dresses I waved but she did not see me as there were so many people around us. On a sorry looking table not far from the crazy golf attraction I noticed a skull and a spinal column on display which I considered buying for Wild Child & Damien’s bedroom. They were obviously from a med school and were attracting enquiries from certain people although the dealer appeared to be asking a lot for them. What made me smile was that only the day before the discovery of human bones had been reported at Sandwich Bay (about three miles away) – that said although it is not common human bones are occasionally washed up around here for obvious reasons. I purchased two small plastic models of Genghis Khan and Vlad the Impaler for the girls and soon after I received a call from Caron.
It was time to join forces and hunt down bargains with a vengeance. But first I would like to give you a feel of this exciting brocante. As normal I expected that some stalls would be very expensive and others really quite reasonable and I was not disappointed. A dealer once gave me a tip noting that if an item is unpriced then it might be that the vendor is profiling the person interested (that is why I always try to look like Worzel Gummidge or Aunt Sally). I soon asked the price of a rather tatty Victorian book dealing with the history of Romney Marsh and was shocked at what was being asked, it was almost as if I was purchasing a signed first edition of The Wasteland.
But for every expensive stall there was a cheap one and really the rule of thumb was what is fashionable, what is chic as these usually attract the higher prices. I noted that some of the 1970s tack was beginning to increase in price after a vacancy of many years which was interesting. The enamel signs were very expensive and were being snapped up at three figure prices especially the local ones. Garden pots that looked the worse for wear were also going fast as organic scruffy chic is very much in vogue at present. In fact you could find almost anything at this brocante from millions of toys to ornaments by the trillion although to my surprise there were not too many books which given the state of the weather was quite sensible.
As it is our ********th wedding anniversary in a few weeks Caron purchased a 1935 book published by the local rag celebrating the history of Swansea which was very thoughtful of her. I had already hidden Caron’s anniversary gift in a draw at home (that’s my secret) so I just bought a 1940s salt and pepper set for her to mark an enjoyable day. It is funny that we attended the brocante just for the fun of it but returned with a couple of bags full of purchases. We bought things for the house like a pair of newlyweds and now we have a choice of three butter dishes and six sets of napkin rings. As normal I purchased a selection of Victorian books dating from the period (1843-1889) which were lovely and I never paid more than a pound for any of them. Caron fell in love with some vintage pots and pans and a few went back with us.
I saw only one Suzie and Clarice was still tucked up in bed although there was Poole, Poole and even more Poole which I thought to be a little expensive (well in comparison tothe prices at the arcade). Later I chatted to one of the organisers over a mug of disgusting coffee which was wet and warm and therefore passed my muster. He told me that brocantes had been held before and were always popular and I supposed that they used the French name as France can on most days be seen just across the channel (I wonder if our adored cousins call their brocantes Village Fairs?).
The 2020 event was cancelled because of the pandemic, as were most things that were joyful and believe me it was a joy to walk casually around this year’s brocante taking in the atmosphere. As I noted earlier a brocante is up the food chain from your average car boot sale but not as posh as an antique fair. The highest prices I saw charged were for the enamel signs and most top end items were well under one hundred pounds. At a car boot sale everything’s for sale including electrical goods whose safety would make Chernobyl’s look good. Really a car boot sale is mainly an excuse for people to get rid of their clutter whereas a brocante usually attracts dealers and others like them.
I found some of these dealers very knowledgeable and interesting to chat with although, I did put Arcade knowledge to good use when I mentioned to one of the dealers that some of the plates he was selling for a song looked distinctly like designs by Jessie Tate. Generally the oldest items I saw were some overpriced Victorian figurines and a few pieces of weathered garden furniture. Most of what was for sale was vintage but nonetheless very interesting, there were a few DVDs and Star Wars figures as you might expect to find and an incredible number of dolls and soft toys. The weirdest items were obviously the med school bones and the nicest was a tie between Caron’s French goblets and my interwar figurine.
We were lucky as our brocante was held next to the sea and even though it was crowded there was a sense of space. in fact apart from the small fairs that were held in Hungerford Town Hall, the last time I had visited anything resembling this brocante was when Caron and I visited a lovely flea market in Arles in the summer of 2019. The temperature in Arles that day was approaching forty degrees (if you think that was hot it was forty-five when we visited Nimes the next day). I would have settled for half of that yesterday as it was a little cool to say the least but hey ho. If you are lucky enough to have an antiques fair or a brocante held near you then do pop along as it is a fascinating way to spend a couple of hours.
