{"id":4435,"date":"2022-01-25T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=25684"},"modified":"2022-01-25T12:17:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T11:17:15","slug":"antiques-experts-share-their-favourite-places-to-visit","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/antiques-experts-share-their-favourite-places-to-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Antiques experts share their favourite places to visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ellie Tennant\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France<\/span><\/h2>\n

Expert: Lizzie Gordon<\/strong>, The Oscar Collective<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sellers from all over Europe gather in L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to peddle their wares at this impressive open-air flea market<\/span><\/figcaption> REDA \/ Alamy<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

I first went to the Proven\u00e7al town of L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue as a dealer four years ago, although I\u2019d been before while on holiday in the south of France. It\u2019s a magical place. The town itself is lovely \u2013 there\u2019s a canal that snakes through the centre with lots of beautiful water wheels and it\u2019s really charming \u2013 plus, it\u2019s a real hub for antiques. It\u2019s almost entirely made up of antiques shops and markets. You can combine it with Avignon, which is 40 minutes up the road and has a huge fair several times a year with international sellers from all over the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a town that\u2019s dedicated to antiques, a lot of the prices in the shops are retail prices. As a dealer, to get the best trade prices, you need to look behind the shops and in the streets at weekends when the whole town comes to a standstill and travelling French traders just set up trestle tables to sell. At 6am, with croissant in hand, you rummage through. The key is to get there while they\u2019re still unpacking and hang around the van doors to see what comes out \u2013 and always carry cash! It\u2019s best to go on your own because you can\nsteam around without anybody distracting you.<\/span><\/p>\n

I never fail to find lovely things there. It\u2019s wonderful. I once found an incredible pale oak 19th-century haberdasher\u2019s table that had come from a Paris couture house \u2013 it had the most fabulous patina and the makers had carved their initials into the wood. It was 3m long and I sourced it for a client of mine who has a beautiful Georgian house in the Cotswolds. I also bought a really special compact Pier Luigi hammered bronze console table there. I sold it within five minutes of putting it on Instagram.<\/span><\/p>\n

Noto, Sicily, Italy<\/span><\/h2>\n

Expert: Adam Calvert Bentley<\/b><\/p>\n

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Palazzo Castelluccio in Noto, a property that Adam has been helping to furnish<\/span><\/figcaption> Armando Rotoletti<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

I first went to Sicily three years ago and I\u2019ve been going a few times every year since. A good friend and client of mine is furnishing a palazzo in a beautiful town called Noto. I source and install pieces for him and while I\u2019m there I take the opportunity to do a bit of shopping. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the 17th century, the town was destroyed by an earthquake, so they rebuilt it slightly closer to the sea and, because it was all constructed at the same time, most of the buildings are in the baroque style. It\u2019s famed for palazzos with beautiful balconies on huge corbels and the food and wine is a big draw too. I\u2019m not sure why the food in Sicily is so much better than in mainland Italy but even in Noto, which is quite a small town that\u2019s only recently become popular, you find some really chic restaurants. Caff\u00e8 Sicilia is the place to go for amazing sweet cannoli.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not traditionally known as a hotbed of antiques but there are a few really good French dealers, so there are lots of French antiques alongside the Italian pieces. There\u2019s also a dealer in town who is obsessed with Swedish antiques, so you can pick up quite a diverse range of finds in one place. On a recent trip, I bought a pair of terracotta Wedgwood wine coolers, dating from about 1800. They\u2019re English, sold by a French dealer who bought them in Sweden! So they\u2019ve obviously moved around quite a bit but they\u2019ve survived remarkably well.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have a specific taste \u2013 I just buy unusual things that I find interesting. Having a broad range means I can put together my own look. I hate the word \u2018eclectic\u2019 because it\u2019s overused but I suppose that is how best to describe it. My pieces suit a \u2018country house\u2019 setting. Closer to home, I can\u2019t wait for The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea to be open again, too, because that\u2019s such an inspiring event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastorale Antiques, Lewes, Sussex<\/span><\/h2>\n

Expert: Laura Dadswell<\/b>, Westland London<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lewes is a beautiful town in the South Downs with a lovely mix of architecture. It\u2019s home to one of my favourite places to visit: Pastorale Antiques. I buy from a lot of incredibly uninspiring dreary warehouses, but Pastorale is in a Georgian townhouse \u2013 an elegant setting with sash windows and a courtyard cafe where you can unwind amongst flowers and antiques. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a real asset because it\u2019s so diverse. Dealer John Wiseman has a large stand there and he\u2019s the highlight for me because he always has great architectural items for the garden, lovely lighting and beautiful mirrors. He has an unerring eye for quality and has been one of the trade\u2019s best-kept secrets for years \u2013 until Instagram! <\/span><\/p>\n

Instagram is an amazing platform for the trade and it\u2019s really changed the game for dealers. Now, you can sell an item in five minutes that would have taken years to sell before. You used to have to wait for the right person to walk through the door but now they\u2019re just a hashtag away. However, it also means that sometimes an item I\u2019m interested in has already sold by the time I see it online, so going to Lewes in person ensures I can pick up pieces before they\u2019re even photographed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently bought an amazing Regency-period stoneware urn from John. It\u2019s enormous, 1.5m high, with snake handles and a Bacchic frieze. It was a bit damaged but we have a fantastic restoration department [at Westland London] so knew we could restore it to its former glory. It\u2019s now living in a beautiful chateau in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

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