Vide-greniers - a wonderful way to discover French street life
 
     
 
'Vide-greniers' may be roughly translated as 'attic-emptying', with the goods that were gathering dust in the attic instead laid out by villagers on trestle tables at mini-fairs staged along the sides of local roads. You can be almost certain that any items on display are genuine relics of bygone years – though not often real antiques – and among totally worthless pieces of kitchenware, you can sometimes uncover a few gems at extremely attractive prices.

For example, you might find, priced at five Euros, an old prune-drying basket in perfect condition, elsewhere worth more than twenty Euros; or an ancient coffee grinder that would fetch at least fifty Euros in any antique shop, the pricy 'brocante' often located on major roads, where they try to tempt in the passing motorist.

The only concession to marketing made at the 'vide-greniers' is an array of small leaflets listing what is for sale handed out at the roadside, and even they do not do justice to the range of goods available. If you have small children, look out especially for French kids with their own miniature trestle tables selling unwanted toys from ten cents upwards. Be warned, however: attempts at bargaining with French children are often doomed to failure – they are at least as stubborn as the British variety.

Of course, although these sales are intended for local villagers only, motorised outsiders do slipstream behind and set up their own stalls. They will be selling modern factory-produced goods of dubious quality or, as the summer progresses and the temperature rises to as much as thirty degrees, with ludicrously inept timing, they will be offering machine-generated jumpers for sale. Unsurprisingly, you will find the locals far too canny to shop at these stalls, which for the most part remain unpatronised.

The 'vide-greniers' are an ideal way to discover small villages and to get to know the local people, who are more than happy to chat away to les anglais if there is a sale to be had. Expect to be offered a chance to sample local wines, nearly always exceptionally good value. The larger villages have barbecues where a complete meal can be bought for as little as six Euros: succulent grillades, sizzling frites, a pannet of strawberries and a glass of wine thrown in.