Living In France | A French Collection

Where to Buy French Market Baskets Online

French market basket filled with pink flowers

Where to Buy French Market Baskets Online

My French market basket is a part of my everyday life in France. Whether carrying warm baguettes, cheese and fresh fruit around the market, packing for a picnic, storing extra towels or blankets in guest rooms or keeping twigs and logs near the fireplace, they are an essential French item around my home. In this post I share where you can buy your French market baskets online.

In France the French market basket isn't just a bag - it's a way of life. Whether it's a quick stop at the village market or packing for a sun-drenched weekend escape, you'll see women of all ages carrying these effortlessly chic French style baskets. Market baskets are as quintessential to French life as croissants and wine and once you have one, you'll find so many uses for it, you'll likely find one is never enough.

In France you'll find them in all shapes and sizes from the classic oversized tote to smaller charming circular baskets or petite vegetable baskets, just as you'd expect in a Provencal kitchen.

If you're interested in the story behind the French market basket, their tradition, how and where they are made, and how the French use them, I know you'll love our full post The French Market Basket: A Timeless Tradition. The post also shares lots of my photos taken of basket sellers at weekend markets from across France.

The French Market Basket: A Timeless Tradition

Annette at Guingamp wearing her French market basket in summer

French Market Baskets: A Timeless Tradition

Few objects are as effortlessly chic and as deeply functional as the French market basket and going to local markets shopping with my basket was one of the early traditions that I fully embraced on moving to our village home in regional Côtes-d'Armor in Brittany. After years of imagining myself going to locals markets buying strawberries, cheese, bread and flowers if I bought a house in France, when I actually did buy my dream home, buying a french market basket was top of my dreamy French lifestyle to-do list.

Women, and men, all across France regularly use market baskets during their daily activities. Whether used around the home, strapped onto a bicycle or used in the timeless tradition of going to market, they are as quintessentially French as a baguette or croissant. Woven from palm leaves or straw and finished with leather handles, they are equally at home slung over a shoulder at the local market or resting gracefully by the front door filled with blooms, fresh produce, or everyday essentials.

I now have a few French market baskets in both of my homes in Brittany and Newcastle (Australia), and I honestly could not be without them. They come with me to the market and I have them around the house as indispensable hold-alls for spare linen and towels in the guest rooms, extra produce from the market that doesn't need to go in the fridge, and for the twigs and small logs I keep beside the fireplace. There is something about a French market basket that makes even the most simple task of shopping easier and feel a little more fun. Classic paniers (woven basket bags) are as chic as they are practical and timeless. See our home and enjoy village country life over on Instagram here with us.

A French Christmas

My French Country Home - French Christmas

A French Christmas for our Family

This winter our family will be heading to our second home in France to spend a couple of months enjoying crisp cold walks around the village and nearby towns, evenings in front of a roaring log fire, reading books under blankets and best of all, experience another French Christmas. Hopefully it will be a white one!

We've been dreaming and hoping for a white Christmas for a few years now, as it rarely snows at our village in Côte d'Armor, Brittany. The last time it snowed significantly, and we were blanketed under white, was way back in 2009. The children energetically threw snow balls at each other, made snow men and we traipsed through the streets listening to the crisp crunch of snow underfoot. It was truely magical for our Aussie family, who usually go sailing from our lake house and swim at local beaches during November and December, to witness our first white Christmas.

French Country Cushions: Simple Ways to Add French Charm

When decorating a new French home or château it can be overwhelming. Where do you start? What style do you adopt, or does your own personal style fit the new home? Is there a budget you need to work within? Is decorating your home something you are comfortable with doing yourself, or do you need to bring in outside professional help?

With so much inspiration and help readily available in books and magazines, on the internet and across social media, it's not difficult to find ideas and styles that you love. But is the reality of turning your own home into the one of your dreams not as easy as it looks for others?

Why Do The French Wear Striped Tops?

Annette of A French Collection in Striped Top

Why Do the French Wear Striped Tops?

I've often been asked "Why do the French wear striped tops?", and even more often, "Why do so many people in Brittany wear striped tops?" Well, it was something that struck me also on my very first trip to France, and especially when we went to the region of Brittany, or Bretagne. For those that know my story, you'll know that the first time I flew to France, was for the express purpose of buying a property, in particular, a house that we planned to have as a second home.

Sound strange, that we would fly all the way from Australia with our daughter specifically to buy a property in a country on the other side of the globe, and in a land that we had never been to before? Yes, well, strange but true. You can read about that crazy experience in our post My Story: It Has To Be France. But to go back to striped tops and why so many people in France wear them, we'll take a quick look back into history.

Living in the French Countryside Part II – Going to a Vide-Grenier

Living in the French Countryside Part II - Going to a Vide-Grenier

My Journal of living in the French countryside

Going to a vide-grenier, which is also known as a boot sale, flea market or garage sale in other countries, is one of the joys of living in France. Along with flakey buttery croissants, endless cheese choices and stunning chateaux to explore, spending a few hours at a vide-grenier is a quintessential French way of life. "Vide-grenier" literally translates to "empty attic" and that's pretty much what people do, they empty their attic or garage. Locals bring their unwanted goods and chattels and display them, usually on tables, or laid out on the ground, for others to buy and take home immediately.

My 'Living in the French Countryside' journal series shares my everyday experiences of living in France, small memorable events, and big new experiences. I capture them all in my journal writings. It's honest everyday stuff, authentic and hopefully entertaining for you. Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to make the move to France also.

Gentle Pastimes

Gentle Pastimes

Busy lives are rather the norm now for many of us trying to fit into each day the demands of family live, work commitments, helping others as we are able and, of course if we can, a little time to ourselves to wind down or enjoy our hobbies. Over this Easter holiday, with more time to relax and think, my thoughts were drawn to how our hobbies and passionate pastimes shape our lives or help us through difficult times. What do they say about us? How do they add to the fabric of our lives?

2026 has for me been a very different year so far, and gentle pastimes have played an important role in keeping healthy. Many of our regular followers may know that our family decided to spend the winter months at our French second home 'maison secondaire' and leave the hot dry Australian summer behind. We were very much looking forward to spending another cold winter, hopefully with snow, and experiencing the joy of Christmas and New Year in our tiny farming village.

What is “La Rentrée”?

What is la Rentrée in France?

September in France is the season of la Rentrée, or 'the Return' and it is like the start of a new year. For school children it is literally the start of the new school year at their école (school) after the long summer holiday. Adults return to work also after their long vacances (holidays) from work.

August is the month that many employees take their holidays to travel with their children and visit family. With the warm, sunny summer weather, August is the preferred time of travel for many French employees, and with four to six weeks of government directed paid vacation time per year, why not enjoy enjoy all that summer has to offer!