Brocantes & Antiques around Alençon

As we slip into the cooler days of a southern Normandy autumn and there is less work to do in the garden, we have been nosing around brocantes and antique shops near Alençon.

Earlier this year we focussed on the brocantes of the Perche region to our immediate east, so for a change we decided to look up a few addresses around Alençon to the west.  We’ve mentioned the amazing “Esprit Antiques” brocante and reclamation yard in a recent blog post, and this inspired us to dig out a few more – so here are a three more that we visited recently.

Philippe HUVE

Serge LANGLE

Philippe HUVE

Philippe HUVE

Philippe HUVE

Serge LANGLE

Françoise CHAUVIN

Serge LANGLE

Serge LANGLE

Serge LANGLE

Françoise CHAUVIN

Serge LANGLE

Françoise CHAUVIN

Françoise CHAUVIN

Esprit Antique

Esprit Antique

Françoise CHAUVIN

This large brocante and depot-vente occupies a hangar of 680m² split into two sections.  The first is mainly wooden furniture with a little section for garden tools and hardware; lots of tables, chairs, wardrobes – some of it is relatively modern but mostly antique – the condition and quality are variable.  The second room is packed with smaller furniture like occasional tables, bedside tables and painted cabinets, plus a large selection of glassware and china, pottery, lamps and lighting.

We’ve been here many times before and they have recently improved their presentation, which used to be frankly chaotic, with boxes full of tut all over the place, so that you couldn’t see the wood for the trees – it is much, much better now.

This time when we visited there were some reasonable marble topped bedside cabinets (“chevets”) from 25€ and a couple of nice church pews for about 75€.

Practical

Open 7 days a week.  Mon-Fri 10h00 to 12h00 and 14h00 to 19h00, Saturday 10h00 to 19h00, Sunday and holidays 15h00 to 19h00.

La Boissière, rue du Moulin à Vent, 61250 Condé-sur-Sarthe

Tel: 02 33 82 96 44

Serge LANGLE

This brocante and scrapyard is great for nosing around for old iron fire guards, fencing, gates and grills, old farm and carpentry tools, metal urns, chairs and benches.  The yard is haphazard and in the shed containing furniture, china and knick-knacks you have to watch you don’t bring piles of stuff tumbling down around your ears, but the prices are good and it’s just the sort of place where those with an inventive turn of mind who like to “re-purpose” old objects can unearth a bargain buried  in a corner or hidden under something else.

The owner is very friendly and will leave you to nose around undisturbed, but is happy to help and is open to bargaining over prices.

On the other side of the house is the scrapyard where we found loads of old ploughs and cart wheels – as well as huge piles of scrap metal whose purpose we couldn’t fathom out.

We bought a nice painted iron bench (no age, but attractive) and three large decorative metal grills for the garden.  We plan to return to buy one or two old sewing machine stands (he had loads for 15€ each) and some marble tops to place on them (10€ each) and use as display tables in the garden.

Practical

Open every afternoon except Sunday.

La Boissière, rue du Moulin à Vent, 61250 Condé-sur-Sarthe

Tel: 02 33 82 96 44

Philippe HUVE

A small roadside brocante with an eclectic mix of books, paintings, furniture large and small with the bonus that the furniture seems to be reasonably priced, so maybe less haggling required!  The lady who was in charge when we visited was very pleasant and there was no feeling that we were being watched, no pressure and no questions about what we were looking for – we were free to wander.  There is an additional small showroom upstairs.

We were particularly taken by the selection of traditional wardrobes, from 350€ to 500€.  Not pieces of exceptional quality (they run to thousands – if you’re looking for that kind of spending we can give you other addresses) but attractive with some age, a bit of style and in good condition.

Le Bonnet, 61420 St Denis sur Sarthon

Tel: 02 33 27 36 31

… and don’t forget Alençon Flea Market

First Saturday of every month on the pavements surrounding the Halle au Blé, Alençon, there is a flea market which draws many brocantes on a regular basis – postcards, peppermills, lighting, furniture, books and paintings.

The Halle au Blé is one of the landmark buildings in Alençon town centre; park up for free in the Palais de Justice car park about 50m away; the stallholders are all around the impressive, glass-domed, circular building that used to be the corn exchange.

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Hostas, Hail and Holidays

April Showers!

What a month April has been!  We’ve become so used in recent years to drought-like conditions in spring and early summer that a prolonged period of April showers, as we’ve had this last fortnight, takes us completely by surprise.  It is easy to forget that this should be the norm and the ground desperately needs more water after yet another dry winter.

Sunshine After Rain

From New Year to early April we had only ten days with any rainfall and all the talk was of drought, falling water tables and failing crops.  Well, April has see a reversal of that – our first downpour was on the 10th April and we’ve had rain every day since, with just a couple of exceptions.  Some days it has been steady rain, but more often than not it has been altenating heavy showers and sunshine, with a couple of hailstorms thrown in for good measure.  Just the kind of weather to keep you on your toes!  At the same time it’s about 10 degrees colder than a month ago – brrr!

From north to south, from Calais to Biarritz and all points in between, our friends in France have been reporting the same sort of conditions.

Of course, as luck would have it this shift in the weather coincided with our moving the hostas into their summer positions on the back terrace, so on several occasions we’ve been running around like lunatics, moving plants  under cover lest their leaves be peppered with holes by hailstones.  Planning these operations has not been easy as it seems like France Metéo has predicted hailstorms almost every day for the past fortnight, but the frozen pellets have only actually made an appearance on two occasions.

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Getting Out of the Rain

For anyone visiting Alençon and looking for shelter from the showers and downpours, here are a few suggestions in the town centre:

• the Musée de la Dentelle et Beaux Arts – the famous Alençon Lace Museum, next to the Lace Workshops
• the Basilique de Notre Dame – a magnificent church of cathedral proportions with wonderful façades
• Chocolats Glatigny and Chocolat Pedro, near the basilica on Grande Rue
• Maison Sainte Thérèse – the birthplace and early home of Saint Theresa of Lisieux
• the Tourist Office in the Maison d’Ozé, through the archway in the Notre Dame church square
• the “Salon du Thé” – our favourite place for a patisserie and coffee, near the Halle au Blé
• … any one of the other dozens of bars and tea rooms in the town centre

Not far from Alençon  itself, more under cover places to visit include:

• the Château de Carrouges
• the Musée du Vélo as Fresnay-sur-Chedouet
• the Cathedral and Religious Art Museum at Sées
• the Maison du Sabot – forest crafts, clogs and clogmaking at Neufchâtel-en-Saosnois
• the Cathedral St Julien and the 24 Hours Car Museum at Le Mans
• and much more – just ask

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Alençon, Chocolate and Lace

Visit Normandy Guest Post at Velvet Escape

Polished pews at the back of the church … a velvety and voluptuous, sensuous and silky secret … a devilish delight with eyes closed and head tilted back in delectation … a wicked pleasure of self-indulgence …

Chocolat Glatigny, Alençon, Normandy

Chocolate Heaven in Normandy! Read more at VelvetEscape … http://velvetescape.com/

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Alençon, Normandy – Town of Iron and Lace

While we were in Alençon for the Tourist Train Trip, I happened to take some pictures of the cast iron metalwork that graces many of the first floor windows of the 19th century buildings in the town centre.

As well as Alençon lace, recognised as the finest lace ever made, Alençon was famous as a centre for decorative iron work from the Middle Ages until the end of 19th century.  In fact, the ancient well in Grande Rue, near the Place Magdeleine and the Eglise Notre Dame, is called the “Well of the Forges“, recalling the time when there was a foundry on that spot.

In consequence of this iron making heritage, hundreds of windows in Alençon town centre are adorned with fancy ironwork in a myriad different designs, some of them a reminder of the lacework for which Alençon is famous.

This may be a bit “anoraky”, but I really liked the fancy ironwork windows and thought I would share a photo gallery of the windows and their lovely iron decorations.  Oh, and one piece of fancy stonework may also have sneaked in!

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Alençon – one of Lower Normandy’s best secrets

Shhhhhhh! Keep it quiet – for Alençon in Lower Normandy is barely known to foreign tourists, yet it is a delight for those who enjoy getting away from the usual tourist traps to see a bit of  “real” France: a little gem in Lower Normandy untainted by tacky tourist shops, but justly proud of its rich history, architecture, produce and traditions.

Many a motor sport fan passes Alençon en route to the Le Mans 24 Hours or the GP Motor Bike races, just 25 miles to the south of Alençon, but all that most of them see is the frankly boring and uninspiring Route Nationale (was the N138, now the D338) which bypasses the real town centre with its architecture dating from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

Pity for them, because Alençon is a super little Normandy town still unspoilt by tourism, but with much to offer the discerning traveller. Our kind of place!!!

Nowadays Alençon is the capital of the Orne department in Lower Normandy: a small town of 30,000 inhabitants it retains many medieval buildings, as it was largely untouched by Allied bombing in the 2nd World War and was abandoned by the Germans before the Allied forces (under the French General Leclerc) arrived to liberate it in August 1943.

Being at the southern extremity of Normandy and away from the coast, the climate of the Pays d’Alençon is drier and warmer than that of the Normandy coast – in fact, Alençon is only a mile from the border with the Pays de la Loire, the region south of Normandy. The winters, however, are on average a few degrees colder than on the Normandy coast.

In the Middle Ages Alençon was the centre of power in western France for the Dukes of Alençon and until the late 19th century was famous for Alençon lace – justly recognised as the finest lace in the world, as well as the most expensive.  The Alençon Lace Museum/Musée des Beaux Arts has some excellent displays of lace making for those interested in Alençon lace.

This year the Alençon tourist office has initiated a tourist train which takes visitors around some of the main sights in the old town centre – our video is a compilation of sights along the train route and a few other photos that we have taken of Alençon at other times.

We took the train on Saturday 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption, which is a holiday – hence the town was very quiet.  However, we had an excellent cappucino each at the Café des Pietons before we took the train tour and the usual Saturday market in the town centre was well attended, as ever.

Our observations on the Alençon train tour:

1. The train is a good way to see the main sites and has a commentary in both English and French – price is just 3€ per person, excellent value.
2. Our driver was not the best in the world – as a result he did not synchronise the trip with the commentary. Ours was the last tour before lunch – ’nuff said, lunch is #1 priority for most French!
3. The trip was advertised at 45 minutes – when we took it it took 25 minutes – see (2) above!
4. Take the train if you’re in a hurry, otherwise do the circuit on foot – you can hire an audioguide (in English or French) from the tourist office for 3€, same price as the train trip, and have a better view of the sites along the route at your own pace.
5. The commentary provided on the audioguide can also be downloaded for free – but only in French – from this site http://www.audiovisit.com/.

Practical Information:

In 2009 the tourist train runs daily from 10th July until 13th September.

Tickets for the Alençon Tourist Train can be bought from the Tourist Office – not on the train itself.

The Tourist Office is located in the Maison d’Ozé, through the arch at the rear of the Place de la Magdelaine next to the Church of Notre Dame in the old Alençon town centre.  Telephone 02 33 80 66 33.

Departure point is Place Magdeleine near the Alençon Tourist Office EXCEPT for market days (Thursdays all day and Saturday mornings) when the train departs rue Saint Blaise, in front of the Renaissance restaurant (2-3 minutes on foot from the Alençon Tourist Office).

Train Times:

• 10h30
• 11h30

• 14h00
• 15h00
• 16h00
• 17h00
• 18h00

Market Days

The BIG market occupies both squares and side streets around the Alençon  Tourist Office on Thursdays; a smaller, but also very good, food and produce market takes place on Saturday mornings in the Place Magdeleine on the Grande Rue side of the Alençon Tourist Office, next to the Eglise Notre Dame.

Alençon town centre is 10 minutes from our B&B in Lower Normandy.

There is plenty of free parking in Place Foch, next to the Palais de Justice and Hotel de Ville (Town Hall). Elsewhere there  is lots of cheap pay-and-display parking in Alençon town centre.

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