Half term holidays – Antibes & upcycling

I love visiting France, it brings back happy memories of family holidays both as a child and as an adult.

This year we were fortunate enough to have 11 days on a campsite on the edge of Frejus. We spent hours by the pool and on the beach. In return the children agreed to visit some French towns with us.

We had a lovely morning in Antibes, wandering the streets in the rustic old town. The children are not overly interested in old French architecture, to keep them interested we let them choose whether we turned left or right as we wandered. They had to do some exercise before they were allowed to indulge in Nutella ice cream!

As a result we stumbled upon Rue James Close. There were two shops which caught by attention – firstly Universerecyclage.

My eye was immediately drawn to this wonderful shop selling bags made from upcycled materials.

Rugby ball?? Personally I would probably not use this bag but I love it’s ingenuity and originality.

My favourite has to be this bag – I’m wondering if it’s made from bicycle tubes?

The second shop on first appearances was a nik nac gift shop, but my husband spotted these lights which he new I would appreciate. The shop keeper of Un petit spouvenir de toi spotted me taking a photograph and immediately drew me into the shop. Through sign language and very limited English from him, and pigeon French from myself we had a great conversation.

It transpire he makes the lights himself from driftwood. He was keen to share his delight and skills with working with driftwood and clearly enjoyed talking with someone who appreciated his craft.

What a delightful morning, and a great surprise to stumble upon high craftsmanship in an area I would expect to be full of tourism based shops… It certainly made a change to shops selling bikinis!!