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The Vintage French Farmhouse: Episode 3 (BBC One Wednesday 27 September 2023)

Published

3 months ago

September 26, 2023

The Vintage French Farmhouse: Episode 3 airs Wednesday 27 September 2023 on BBC One.

What is this episode about

The trip to the south of France is a buying trip for antique dealers Melissa Drabble, Lucy Ryder Richardson, and Jon Swanston. Their home base is an old farmhouse in the heart of Provence, not far from some of the best brocantes in the country.

The three are off to Carpentras today, a city that has been a commercial crossroads at least since Ancient Greek times and which now plays host to a market frequented by merchants from all over the region in search of fresh inventory. Here, they’re in a competition to see who can find the most valuable buried treasures and bring home the most cash. The first obstacle for the group is to settle on a product they are confident will be well-received by their current clientele and online audience.

Mel, the scrapyard owner, is used to finding interesting things in metal, and she quickly comes across two vintage compasses. They need to be cleaned up, but if she can get a good deal on both of them and learn more about their history, she might be able to sell them to a collector of militaria for a tidy profit.

Jon, an art connoisseur, spots potential in a collection of repurposed French classroom posters. They’re cheap, but it’s a catch-22: he could try to sell them quickly in the hopes that his customers will appreciate the same rough and ready charm that drew him to them in the first place, or he could frame them up, which might make them more appealing to retail buyers but would cut into his sales time.

Lucy, an expert on mid-century chairs, quickly zeroes in on a potentially valuable find: a ‘Suzy’ stool by designer Adrian Reed. She decides to take the risk, but her clients might not be able to look past the shabby packaging to find the hidden treasure.

In addition to the difficulties of communicating with customers and the limited time available for making sales, the merchants face additional pressure when a new challenge is introduced every day. Now it’s Magpie Mel’s turn to issue a search challenge in the hopes of finding a shiny object at the thriving weekly market.

They return to the farm with their loot of six items to survey the field. Our vendors find the 17th-century farmhouse’s setting among vineyards and olive groves to be the perfect backdrop for the photographs and videos they intend to use to distinguish their Provençal wares when they list them for sale online.

Who among our three will come out on top at The Vintage French Farmhouse, where they have only one day to secure a sale and where they are competing to make the most profit?

Melissa Drabble, Lucy Ryder Richardson, Jon Swanston

Series 1 Episode 3