Issigeac

Sunday August 30th



The Sunday market at Issigeac - 15 kilometres south of Bergerac - is one of the best in the area if you like that sort of thing. I am never that keen on French outdoor markets. There are crowds of people and Bertie, our border terrier, inevitably gets in to a fight with other dogs on leads - large or small; French or English. The wine is often disappointing, the cheese can be extortionately priced and the butchers’ chariots compare badly to the excellent boucheries in Issigeac.

Issigeac on a Sunday can be a bit like running with the bulls in Pamplona only the pace is slower, it’s less fun and nobody gets hurt – except anybody who treads on Bertie. Today the market was more crowded than ever with hoards of locals and foreigners funnelling down the narrow main street, Le Grand Rue that runs through the centre of town from opposite the post office at the top to the imposing and beautiful church at the bottom of town. Despite the crowds Issigeac is a fine sight on a bright, sunny day like today. The vegetable, fruit and flower stalls add wonderful colour. There are pizza stalls; paella stalls; fresh farm produce stalls selling farm chickens, cream and eggs; meat and chacuterie wagons; plenty of Bergerac wine on display; clothes; jewellery; hats and a man selling model, wooden frogs that make a life-like croaking sound when their ridged backs are stroked with a small peg. This sent Bertie wild as he is partial to chasing and eating live ones.

Half way up Le Grand Rue I found a well stocked, second hand English book stall run by Pete and his wife who live near Eymet where half the population is English. It would seem that Issigeac is another popular Mecca for the Brits as regular announcements were being made in English on the PA system announcing forthcoming events, exhibitions of paintings, concerts and the like. Pete told me there were as many English as French living in the area and that he sells more than 500 books a week at the Eymet and Issigeac markets. He had a big choice of paper backs selling from between 2 and 5 euros and I bought John le Carre’s The Tailor of Panama and two by Bernard Cornwell, Harlequin and Vagabond.

Earlier in the month there was a two day brocante (antiques market) in Eymet which was filmed by the BBC for its popular show, Sun, Sea and Bargain spotting. This was reported in the local daily newspaper, Sud Ouest. British TV’s first woman newsreader, Angela Rippon was spotted doing pieces to camera by our English neighbours. We missed this event because we were in the Channel Islands getting married at the time.