Friday mornings.
Everybody from fishmongers to mattress salesmen elbow each other for space, and Brantôme turns into one huge gourmet flea market. Cheese merchants offer cheeses wrapped in diaphanous paper made by farm women who make it every day. The rotisserie master offers hot roasted chickens soaked in onion gravy that shame those you'll find in most restaurants. Fishmongers abound with local, live salmon trout swimming in tanks set on the back of trucks or station wagons. Do not forget to take home a bottle of the ambrosia-like walnut oil, which is milled locally and is a Brantôme specialty.