It has been a while since I've been to Montpellier with Dad (AKA Kevin Weaver). It's supposedly because we need enough people left manning the shop but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be down to the fact that with two of us along, that's twice as much food and wine. Wine possibly being the main issue.

That being said, we arrived the night before the fair and we went out to eat at a place he's been waxing lyrical about; L'Entrecote. As some of you might have guessed, the main thing on the menu is steak. I say the main thing… It's the only thing. That and 'allumette' chips. The only decision you make at this restaurant is how you want the faux filet cooked ('rare', 'medium rare' and 'what are you doing!?') and what kind of wine you are having. We ate outside, just off the main square with really delicious steak (cooked in butter… I could practically hear my arteries screaming at me) and endless refills of the most addictive chips you can imagine. Yes, I said endless refills.

Moving on from my brief sojourn as a restaurant critic (yes please!), we were up at the crack of dawn the next day, or as some people call it, 6.30am, making our way to the fair in our strange little rental car.
With the sun already starting to make an appearance the two of us, along with the hundreds of other dealers streaming into the fair, began making our way around the stands, the dealers scrambling to get their pieces out on show in the hope of an early sale. Dotted amongst the usual fare were a few fairly odd pieces; at one point I thought a fox had decided to join the party, but was disappointed to realise that as it was stuffed, he wasn't going anywhere.

After about an hour or so with nothing to show, we started wondering if we would find anything at all and were just beginning to give up hope when we came across some tapestry pilasters.

No, that wasn't a mistype, we really did see a set of four 17th Century tapestry pilasters, and having never seen anything like that before Dad thought they would be perfect for the showroom. I'm sure they'll be featuring on our Instagram and possibly twitter once they've winged their way over from France, so keep an eye out for that.

Soon after that a bar and pair of stools were spotted. Being for sale it wasn't stocked with alcohol and bar snacks but was still exciting enough for us to snap up before anyone else got to it first. Sadly it won't be going in my living room as I had originally hoped, but maybe with a bar in the showroom Dean might be inspired to create a whole bar set up; chairs to lounge in around low tables, with cocktail shakers and shot glasses scattered about the place. Maybe even a bottle of champagne waiting in an ice bucket for all the hard working antique dealers at the end of the day?

Natasha