Vide-Grenier de Piney

The Vide-Grenier de Piney: Bargain Hunting and Nature by the Forêt d'Orient Lake

The village of Piney (10220) hosts its annual car boot sale every year, a popular event organized in the heart of the Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park. This summer gathering attracts exhibitors and visitors to this village in the wet Champagne region, nestled between the large Forêt d'Orient lake and the dense forests of this protected natural area.

Piney, a Village in the Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park

Piney is a commune of about 1,100 inhabitants, a historic cantonal capital in the Aube department, located about twenty kilometers east of Troyes. The village is on the banks of the Forêt d'Orient lake, a vast artificial body of water created in the 1960s to regulate the floods of the Seine and the Aube. This lake, with an area of 2,350 hectares, is one of the largest artificial lakes in France and is the jewel of the Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park.

The natural setting of Piney is of remarkable beauty: forests of pedunculate oaks and hornbeams, wet meadows, ponds, and reed beds are home to exceptional avian fauna. Thousands of migratory birds – common cranes, ducks, herons – frequent the lake and its surroundings every spring and autumn, making the region a prime spot for ornithological tourism.

A Car Boot Sale in the Tradition of Wet Champagne Villages

The Piney car boot sale is part of the tradition of village festivals in the wet Champagne region, a rural area where community life is particularly active. Exhibitors, mainly individuals from the village and neighboring lakeside communes – Lusigny-sur-Barse, Géraudot, Mesnil-Saint-Père, Brienne-le-Château – offer an authentic selection of second-hand items: rustic furniture, country tableware, old agricultural tools, books, clothing, and trinkets.

Visitors come as much for the bargain hunting as to enjoy the exceptional environment of the Natural Park. A day at the Piney car boot sale can easily be extended with a bike ride along the lake shores, a sailing trip, or an ornithological walk in the park's reed beds.

The Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park, a Territory of Nature and Culture

Created in 1970, the Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park covers more than 70,000 hectares in the Aube department. It encompasses three artificial lakes – the Forêt d'Orient lake, the Temple lake, and the Amance lake – as well as the Orient state forest, a former medieval forest of the Templars. The park welcomes several hundred thousand visitors each year, attracted by water sports, hiking, cycling, and ornithological tourism.

The village of Piney is one of the preferred entry points to the park from Troyes, with reception facilities (nautical base, beaches, marked trails) developed over the decades. The sector's tourism economy relies on the complementarity between rural accommodation, local restaurants, and cultural and sports activities, of which the annual car boot sale is an integral part.

Practical Information

The car boot sale is held annually in Piney (10220). Entry is free for visitors. Piney is accessible from Troyes via the D960 (approximately 20 km). For precise dates and exhibitor registration, contact the town hall or local organizers.