Marche des Producteurs in Charroux, Vienne

With a family of B&B’s arriving from Scotland last year, we were unable to get down to the annual ‘marche des producteurs’ in Charroux. They proved to be a lovely bunch, so no regrets, but we were itching to get back again this year.

I suppose in the UK it would be called a farmer’s market and held perhaps monthly. In Charroux , and probably all the other towns where they have this event, it is an evening doonce a year and everybody turns up for yet another great feast!

The stallholders set up their goods all around the back and sides of ‘Les Halles’—with some of the larger refrigerated meat vans along the lane outside. Along from here is a fenced- off area where 3 or 4 large metal drums are filled with wood, (they don’t seem to bother with charcoal) which is lit and then covered with a metal grill.
 
These are controlled by 2 or 3 men—barbecue experts!—who manage to have the different fires running at different levels of heat according to what meat is being cooked.They do a stirling job in all the heat and smoke!
The general public rolls up from 6pm onwards—most bring their own plates & cutlery—greet friends and bag places along the numerous trestle tables that have been set up in the middle of ‘Les Halles’. We ended up in a group of about 16—but people were coming and going and it was quite a flexible crowd!

Next we went around the stalls looking for our evening meal. We came back with bread and cheese and rillettes, tomatoes and melon—and a punnet of strawberries and a bottle of wine and then some pork and sausages to be cooked on the barbecue!

Considering the number of people at the event, the turnover of customers handing their meat over to the barbecue chefs was remarkably fast. We’ve noticed before that the French turnover is faster than the English……something to do with the fact that French eat their meat rarer! This gets a lot of ribald comments from the chefs, who are well aware of their English clientele who are hanging over the railings saying-non! pas deja! Ce n’est pas pret! It’s all very good humoured, but I’m pretty sure they think we’re mad!

Getting back to the table…that first mouthful… DELISH!.. it’s always super, and I really don’t know why. We have barbecued pork chops at least twice a week at home, but these ones melt in your mouth!

So, after a lot of eating and drinking and talking, Geoff & I went to have a look around all the other stalls—and to stock up on a few quality goodies to take home. The honey is always a favourite. This year we bought acacia honey, but I’m also very fond of the chataigne which is a strong flavoured rich ,dark ,chestnut-coloured honey. Next stall and we bought a bottle of the local alcohol speciality Pineau, with a promise to the producer that, yes, we’d definitely come and participate in a ‘degustation’ at his vineyard this year. I never saw the walnut oil this year—probably because we spent most of the rest of the evening chatting with a cheese producer from Blanzay. He told us that he milked 20 cattle of the ‘Normande’ breed which he was turning into 5 or 6 different types of cheese. They were quite modestly priced and very tasty. The conversation was in Franglais. Farmers are not known for their linguistic ability. (I know, I was married to one, and he’s barely any better even though he’s no longer farming!) Anyhow, it transpired that he had worked on a farm in Ireland when he was a student. Actually, thinking about it, it is quite amazing that his English was so good. We had an Irish student from Harper Adams working on our farm. He lived with us for a whole year and, such was the strength of his accent, that I don’t think he spoke to anybody without them saying, at least once, sorry, can you repeat that please? Anyhow, our cheese-making farmer friend was easy and interesting to chat with, and I hope we’ll be off to have a look around his place and try out some more of his cheese!

The heat has been terrific this last week and what with all those bodies and the barbecue ovens everybody melted away to their homes fairly promptly at about 9ish. We actually stopped off at our neighbours and helped them drink a bottle of pink fizzy stuff that they’d bought.

The next morning was one of those when getting up proved to be rather difficult!

About me

I am Heather Squires we bought our house in 2002, moved over to France to live here full time in 2006 and now run Maureville Chambre D'hotes in Asnois - 5 miles south of Charroux in the Vienne department.

 
Posted by: heather squires on 15 July 2010