Flea markets and antique fairs on October 24 and 25 in Pays de la Loire: on Saturday, the Noirmoutier fair brings in professional dealers from 9 am to 7 pm; on Sunday, the Brocante du Théâtre sets up on Place de la République in Saumur.
Saturday October 24, on the island of Noirmoutier. The island's tourist office holds its professional flea market fair there, in the town centre. Flea markets and antique fairs on October 24 and 25 in Pays de la Loire: on Saturday, the Noirmoutier fair brings in professional dealers from 9 am to 7 pm; on Sunday, the Brocante du Théâtre sets up on Place de la République in Saumur.
The dealers' fair in Noirmoutier
The professional flea market fair in Noirmoutier runs from 9 am to 7 pm, with free entry. The island's tourist office organises it and draws dealers from all over France: Brittany, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire, but also the Centre and the South. They pay 14.40 euros per linear metre for their pitch, with a five-metre minimum.
No private sellers behind the tables.
Each dealer brings a specialty: 18th- and 19th-century antiques, period furniture, chests of drawers, secretaires and console tables. Then come porcelain, earthenware, glassware, crystal, silverware, silversmithing, antique and contemporary jewellery, clocks and watches, paintings, engravings, prints and watercolours. Nautical objects hold a place of their own. They are the local specialty and well represented: ship models, navigation instruments, curiosities from the captains of long voyages. Old books, vinyl records, comic books, vintage clothing, advertising objects and militaria are on the stalls too.
Noirmoutier-en-l'Île is the main village of the island. It has its medieval castle, its lanes, its harbour, its sea museum and its salt pans. Visitors reach it by the Noirmoutier bridge or, at low tide, by the Gois passage. Food and shops are on site, and parking in the town centre is paid. Around the fair: the salt pans and their guided visit, the beaches of Les Dames, Anse Rouge and La Madeleine, the villages of L'Épine, La Guérinière and Barbâtre.
Place Viarme, Baugé and Saumur
Also on Saturday, the Place Viarme flea market in Nantes gathers antique dealers and exclusively professional flea market traders from 8 am to 1 pm: period furniture, silverware, prints and paintings, ceramics and earthenware, trinkets, old books, light fittings, with free entry, every Saturday morning of the year. The square sits in the Talensac district, not far from the Château des Ducs de Bretagne, and hosts a food market on weekdays.
In Baugé-en-Anjou, the Brocante du Bel Accueil takes place on the fourth Saturday of the month. Local sellers and dealers from neighbouring towns offer country furniture, earthenware and porcelain, religious objects. Next come regional paintings and engravings, books on local history, old farm tools, costume jewellery, with free entry. Visitors come by the D938 from Angers, 45 km away, or by the D766 from La Flèche. The town keeps King René's castle and a 17th-century apothecary. The Filles-du-Cœur-de-Marie chapel is home to the True Cross of Anjou.
On Sunday 25, the Brocante du Théâtre sets up on Place de la République in Saumur, at the foot of the Grand Théâtre, a 19th-century neoclassical building. Professional dealers and private sellers display furniture and decorative objects, tableware, trinkets, books, paintings and engravings, toys, vintage clothing and accessories, with free entry. The market returns every fourth Sunday of the month. Parking is nearby. The town is known for its castle above the Loire, its national riding school, its tuffeau caves and its Saumur-Champigny wines.
Night of 24 to 25 October: the clocks go back an hour, and Sunday morning bargain hunters gain an extra hour of sleep.
