I’m just back from spending two weeks at my family’s home located in the Bordeaux region of France. I’m sad to say that it had been nearly two years since my last visit so, with Callie minding shop, off I went with task list in hand. This is the view from across the valley where our house is located. The surrounding fields are planted with sunflowers though they had started to die by the time I arrived–was sorry to have missed the vibrant yellow landscape they make.

On my second day there, we set off to the beautiful town of Blaye which is located on the right bank of the Gironde estuary. I have long been hearing of the very charming Didier and his antiques shop there…and with good reason.

It took me all of five minutes to find exactly what we were looking for and–with a tiny bit of haggling–we’d purchased a beautiful (and massive) maple armoire for the main living room…

A gorgeous sofette covered in mohair for the master bedroom sitting area, minus the fringe which I didn’t love but others did….

And two perfect slipper chairs to go in front of the kitchen fireplace, which now makes it a wonderful little spot to sit with a cup of cocoa in colder months…

Didier also had stacks and stacks of old French linens which made me jump up and down in happiness (I have a small textile obsession). It took a while to go through them all but suffice to say, I now properly understand what French linen is all about. I scooped them wherever I could find them, especially the old embroidered napkins that I brought back as gifts–they make brilliant hand towels.

We also had two weekends of scouring the many brocantes in the area and I feel madly in love with these fellows but sadly they weren’t on the house/garden list! Aren’t they adorable!?

My favorite brocante was located in Mornac-sur-Seudre, a truly charming little village where we also had delicious buckwheat and duck crepes for lunch.

A stop on the way home by a favorite nursery yielded these fantastic new grasses that didn’t quite fit in our tiny little car. We laughed the entire ride home…