One of our favorite things about Provence is that we can go to an outdoor market in a different village every day of the week if we wanted to. Besides the weekly open-air markets, there are special marché artisanale (art and craft markets) and brocante (flea) markets throughout the summer.
One Sunday morning we came across a marchés de potiers (pottery market) on Place Montfort in Vaison-la-Romaine, a town with lots of Roman ruins about 10 kms north of Sablet. Now there are few things we love more than Provencal pottery and to find a whole market devoted to pottery was just perfect.
As I said, we have a fondness for Provencal pottery and you can find a lot of it in our house in Sablet. We say the terroir of the Southern Côtes du Rhône is perfect for making wines and it's perfect for making pottery too—clay-rich soil, hot sun for baking, wood for firing.
Terres de Provence is an association of 100 artisans who make pottery throughout Provence and hold pottery markets during the summer months. Here is a link to the pottery markets they have scheduled for 2012. Here are pictures of the pottery market we visited in Vaison-la-Romaine. If you click on the pictures, you can enlarge them for better viewing.
A beautiful day, perfect for an outdoor pottery market.
The pottery displayed and sold at this market are all fabricated by the artisans at the market.
You have to be careful when you shop for pottery in tourist shops because a lot of pottery is mass-produced.and not hand crafted by artisans in their workshops.
One thing you will note is that each artisan has their own style and tend to do all of their work in similar colors.
We have been to ateliers (workshops) where we have watched artisan fabricating the pottery right in front of us in the Drome town of Dieulefit, the Languedoc town of Aigues-Vives, the Gard town of St.-Quentin-La-Poterie, and in the Provence town of Aubagne and around Sablet in Seguret and Gigondas.
On Tuesday mornings throughout the year, this café-lined square is part of the weekly open air market in Vaison-la-Romaine.
Summer is coming and if you are thinking about making a visit to Provence from France or elsewhere in Europe or from the United States, Canada or down-under in Australia or New Zealand, and you have not reserved a house, you had better hurry and do so right away.
We still have two weeks open, June 23 to July 7 and the week of August 25 to September 1 until November. If you are looking to spend a week or two in a charming village in Provence, we would be honored for you to consider our home for your stay.
Bonne journée mes amis et à bientôt.
