Brunch is just as popular in France as it is throughout the rest of the world. For me it is one of those fabulous meals associated with the weekend and free time. A simple mention of the word and I am dreaming of hot languid summer days and holidays. Staycations work just fine right now! It’s a meal that evokes contentment and friends and family. Brunch for me is always informal and relaxed. It is also always in my mind very much a warm weather affair on the terrace under the shade of the linden trees. A time when the internet and phones are forgotten. It’s a time of simplicity in pretty surroundings.
What is interesting is that brunch is not a new word. I honestly imagined it was something from the nineties, I don’t remember ever having brunch as a child. However a little research blew that theory straight out of the window. The word is thought to have first been used in 1895 in Great Britain in Punch magazine describing a Sunday meal for “Saturday-night carousers”! It was then added to the Oxford dictionary in 1896!
Let’s be honest if you’ve enjoyed a fabulous Saturday night and you’ve slept through the first meal of the day on a Sunday morning, then a lazy long brunch is exactly what is needed.
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day anyway, closely followed by lunch. So to combine the two is a win win when we’ve a relaxing weekend with nothing much planned.
It’s one of those meals that seems to happen organically. As everyone slowly emerges, wandering into the kitchen, stretching and wiping sleep from their eyes, things just sort of start to come together.
It really is the epitome of enjoying the simple pleasures in life.
When there are plenty of helping hands to make light work of the preparation, it’s one of those meals that starts from next to nothing and quite quickly turns into a feast. I’ll lay the table. Right now I’m loving the simplicity of using antique blue and white French ironstone plates and leaving the table rustic and au naturel. They don’t have to all be the same, a little mix and match works well for me!
Another person picks a few fresh flowers to put in some small vintage glass mustard pots and old bottles.
Very simple but classically elegant.
Someone makes the fruit salad,
another takes charge of coffee, the eggs,
the pancakes.
and let’s not forget the croissants and pain au chocolat. If you’re lucky enough to have a boulangerie within striking distance, a gentle wander through the village to collect them warm and freshly baked really is the ultimate treat.
Whilst some people just wait patiently!
I think what I absolutely love the most about brunch is that it is a meal that makes us feel like we’re on vacation.
There’s no rush. Normally it’s the weekend and you’ve had a lie in rather than rising with the sun.
What’s more you really can eat whatever you want. Everyone can be satisfied as you can combine steak and eggs with fresh fruit salad and berries, yoghurt and pancakes. Brunch is the meal where mixing sweet and savoury is perfectly ok. And the best part? It all seems utterly normal! What’s more if you’ve skipped breakfast you’ll have a wonderful appetite which means you really can indulge and take your time. Sit back and enjoy.
Our French Oasis 
What an inviting place! I just want to fly over and have croissants at your place! (French croissants are the BEST!)
How lovely! As a fellow brunch lover, you inspire me with your gorgeous and simple table decor! Here in the Canadian prairies the wildflowers are blooming and I must go pick some. Thank you for sharing this!
Would love to see a Canadian prairie!!
They are the best – indeed! 🙂
Oh, how I wish I were at one of your brunches! Looks lovely and the ‘clean up crew’ patiently waiting are too adorable.
Nothing slips pst them!
You make my mouth water and give me something to look forward to once our winter is over!
Happy yo give you a memory to look forward too XX
Your brunch looks like l’idylle d’été Parfait. Enjoy!
Oh, thank you – we did enjoy it, I hasten to add 🙂
That all looks perfect, so relaxed, fresh and tasty. The table looks great and so do the family, including the dogs.
It all looks so wonderful and it is nice when the kids are old enough to help.
It certainly makes life easier!
Looks delicious & the table looks so inviting too!!! Yum!!
I know you would have enjoyed it, Shirley. XX
Sunday brunch – nothing nicer! I love having friends round for brunch, it’s not quite the same when it’s only the two of us. Alternatively, we love going out for brunch.
Either works well for us – but there’s always something special about brunch in the sun 🙂
Viennoiserie from the newly opened village boulangerie? How were they? The croissants look good. Some very pretty plates there too.
The bakery is still not open – it’s been Covid-delayed alas. But the plates made up for it 🙂
It all looks delicious but there is something French missing. French Canadian that is. I just cannot have pancakes without maple syrup. Those wonderful berries are probably a good substitute. We do also have berries with ours.
Ah, we eat maple syrup – but just did not have any in the cupboard this time….
What a lovely scenario!! and looks delicious as well. I remember the term” brunch” as far back as 1960’s!
I lived with a mother who used antique blue and white china…….many decades ago!! Thanks for sharing and
giving us the gift of your terrasse and lovely family.
My pleasure, Robert – happy yo bring back happy memories XX
We also love blue and white china, and leisurely Sunday or any-day brunches, but most of all the croissants which are the very best in France, but just don’t measure up here in the States. The crystal bowl for the fruit salad is a lovely touch. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, Judy. Th croissants need French flour – that is the key, apparently… 🙂
Our day for a lovely brunch is Saturday, Sundays being reserved for other ‘stuff’. In fact, we had a feast yesterday, always depending on what else is to be done. One comment mentionned it already, it’s not the same when you organise a brunch for two or for a family, maybe even with guests. I am doing what you do so well, too, mix and match plates, cutlery, mugs and what not. We put whatever flowers, plants or greenery we can find as a natural decoration – and I am attracted to your use of old lids as pot-‘plates’ and I do miss much of the stuff we couldn’t take with us from England and France to our new rental. But we have a lovely life and some sacrifices have to be made as you all know. I’m so pleased to see some of your family, and Roddy smiling beningly at the end of the table. I’m a tad jealous of the pancakes. Have the pan but I just don’t make them….
Your photos are a delight, food for the eyes, the pets make me smile, the love to what you do shines through everything I see.
Do you have those lovely bakery goods from a large shop or your newly opened bakery? It all looks so delightful. I also sincerely hope that you’ve found French guests for your beautiful gite, to make up a bit for the ‘foreigners’ who are not permitted to come to France now. Wishing you all the luck, happiness and success for the times to come.
Hi Kiki – we ave a trickle of French guests, but need more!!! 🙂
Crossing all fingers for you ….. thinking of you!
I just want someone to tell me that brunch is ready and hand me a champagne glass that is filled as I sit down.
We’ll try and fulfil that dream should you ever visit!
Your post is soul food, Susan. 🙂 With just two of us, one of whom wakes at the crack of dawn or earlier (5/5:30 am here most days) and another who on the weekends sleeps until quite a few hours after that, we find it easier and more leisurely to have an appetizer hour before dinner. Olives from a nearby olive mill, a glass of chilled pinot grigio or rosé, a few other goodies and we’re all set and relaxed. Probably a “Poirot” or another DVD on, as it’s much too hot to sit outside right now, even in the evening. Life is good. 🙂
janet
Ah, yes = the. sunset do is always a favourite here too XX
Oh, this looks lovely and fabulous. I remember the first time I had a croissant fresh from the oven. It was a revelation.
French croissants are truly something special.
We love brunch on Sunday mornings. My, your table looks so inviting. Love the color of your shutters-they look blue/green. Would you be willing to share the color and brand? Beautiful garden. We are having a drought here in the N US and our garden looks and feels like straw! We need rain ASAP. I especially enjoy fresh fruit at this time of year.
Many memories are made around the brunch table.
I think the shutters are handmade – and the paint is just green, I guess, I have no idea if it has a name 😀
It all looks most yum!
And it tasted yum, too! 😀
You have such a lovely way of writing. Your brunch is casual elegance at its best. It would be a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning, slowing down, savouring the moments and the little things.
It is the only way to spend a Sunday!
What a great brunch selection! Those croissants look like they were delightful. I have to admit I have not had a stretched out morning containing brunch in a long time. Something for me to get on to.
And I am on Weight Watcher….I must have gained 10lbs looking at the pictures! Delicious….
Nancy
Oh Nancy, I’m sorry 🙂
Looks lovely!!
This makes me feel hungry. I love the china too.
Oh my, apologies to you too 🙂
Hi
I wanted to get in touch with you re a holiday let but couldn’t work out how to Contact you.
M
I love a Brunch and your table is beautiful and delicious. What a day to remember!
We remember every Brunch!! 🙂
So wonderful
I love table spreads like these
Perfect setting and delicious foods…my wife would die for those pancakes though! 🙂