Container Sale Sunday With The Boys from Atelier de Campagne

If there was ever a doubt that making a trip to container sale weekend at Atelier de Campagne was worthy, please take my word for it.....YES, YES, YES!!

Lucky for me the boys from Atelier and their beautifully arranged and staged garden is a short drive from my home.  Within about an hour, I can completely immerse myself in their fabulous french garden finds. 

I especially enjoy wandering the grounds taking in every vignette.  There is so much to see that I can make several rounds and spot something new each time.

Like this little beauty above!  This might have gone home with me, but I don't have a tree branch low enough in my courtyard to hang it.

Urns and ferns....the perfect combination.

 The greenery of the garden is the perfect backdrop for all the statuary.

A new showroom in the garden was beautifully staged with tables, case goods and beautiful mirrors.

I loved this spanish table. The natural wood finish was perfection!

More hanging beauties.....

and a large selection of wicker baskets.

Very cool industrial metal pieces and signage.

I'm convinced they can make anything look spectacular!

If you ever want to shop between their bi-annual container sales,  you can contact them directly to schedule an appointment to shop in their garden mid-week.  I've done this many times, even under Trino's umbrella in the rain...and I promise you, it's just as much fun:)!! 

It's always a pleasure to visit and chat with this talented trio...I'm only sorry I wasn't able to hang around for some of Martin's famous mexican cuisine.  All I can say is "rain check" please?!

aka the boys from Atelier, Trino, Martin & Johan

Thanks as always for the hospitality boys and congratulations on another successful container sale weekend!
We'll see you again soon:).

Our stay at a Beautiful Chateau in Normandy

During our four fabulous days brocante hunting with Sharon Santoni of My French Country Home, our group stayed at her friends Chateau nearby.

Chateau d'Emalleville is a beautiful 15th century manor that was rebuilt in 1720 and located in the Normandy region. It has guest rooms available for use,  is close to brocante shops and charming little villages and proved to be a wonderful base for our brocante tour.

This was our view each and every morning!

The rooms were charming and each was filled with a variety of beautiful french furnishings.  We stayed in this wing.  I can't believe I didn't take any shots of the interior rooms to share!



And each morning, we could walk out and catch beautiful vistas from any direction.

The Pigeonniere was darling and located next to the private salon and dining area where we had breakfast each morning.

The gardens were lovely and the weather was so warm it encouraged you to explore the grounds

and stroll down every path

You simply could not take a bad photo here.  The vines were so beautiful and covered many of the brick structures on the grounds.

The rose gardens were in full bloom

 The orchards were lovely

 

The pear espaliers were spectacular and my personal favorite.

and the pears were delicious too!

It also includes a private tennis court

 

and a swimming pool  in the middle of the orchard, which is covered when it is not in use as you see in the photo here.

 

And a very cool 19th century renovated greenhouse.

The chateau is open all year, the guest rooms were reasonably priced and  it was an amazing experience all the way around.  It is a short train ride from Paris (about 1 hour), so very easy to navigate. We were very pleased with the accommodations and would  absolutely stay here again. To be quite honest, we could have stayed longer and explored more villages and the beaches of Normandy...but we already had plans to spend several days in Paris, so I guess we'll have to come back and pick up where we left off! 

For contact and more detailed information on Chateau d'Emalleville click  here. 

We truly enjoyed our time here and are even more inspired and enchanted with the French countryside!

I always enjoy reading your comments and would love to know what you think of the chateau. Thanks for reading me!

Take Care,

Brocante Hunting in The French Countryside

It has been an absolute whirlwind of a vacation, but in the best possible way!  We just spent 4 glorious days brocante hunting in Normandy with Sharon Santoni of the blog, My French Country Home and are heading to Paris for a few days of relaxation and sleeping in!

We went in search of unique treasures to fill our European Farmhouse and were delighted with the weather, the scenery, the beautiful chateau where we stayed (chateau detail to follow in future post) and all the loot we managed to find throughout the village fairs and brocante shops.

Garden inspiration was everywhere

We were thrilled with our pile of goods  and can't wait to get them back home.  If only the packing was as much fun as the shopping!

Tom even managed to find himself a new project!  Those beautiful pieces of iron are bench legs and at some point he plans to fashion old pieces of wood to re-create the bench seat.  They are exquisite!



Beautiful scenery was at every turn.

And the trip concluded with a fantastic dinner hosted by Sharon at her beautiful french country home.  In case any of you are wondering if the home is as beautiful in person as it is on her blog....I can honestly say, YES, it is all that and more!

Gibson posing for me before dinner:)

and Ghetto was the sweetest little character:)

 The weather was perfect for dining outside

But first we took a tour of her guest cottage....

It was filled with french country charm!

Sharon was the most gracious hostess and dinner at her home was the perfect way to end our time in Normandy. She has a beautiful and generous spirit and it was an absolute pleasure to spend time with her.   We enjoyed every minute of our adventure!  Merci Sharon! xo

And to the colorful cast of characters that we were lucky enough to meet up with in the van pool each day....thank you for the comedic relief:)!!  It should last a good long while, but we hope to stay in touch and rendevous again somewhere down the road!!  Till then happy hunting!


Take Care,