When the going is fair

You might not have to sell the family silver after a day at the races. In fact, if you go to Kempton Park Racecourse, you could end up buying some back. Six hundred stallholders turn up there every other Tuesday morning, and the shrewd shoppers get there early and know just where to go for the bargains.

There are several well-established racecourse antiques fairs during the summer months; all make for a good day out, but Kempton Park is clear favourite.

The market has been coming to Kempton for 20 years and attracts a cosmopolitan bunch of stallholders, particularly French, German and Belgian. Many drive here with a lorry load of local delicacies, such as French farmhouse tables and Belgian chandeliers, sell these to avid Brits, then load up with English antiques to offer in the continental markets, where these are at a premium.

Specialities include garden furniture, French rural antiques, lighting and architectural pieces. The abundant availability of good French rustic furniture at this fair has persuaded some British dealers to give up the cross-Channel run altogether and buy at Kempton instead.

Summer is the best time to trawl the market because the number of private punters falls off quite seriously in July and August. A private buyer might well take advantage of this lull to secure a choice piece at a better than usual price.

The best pitches are outside, where the lorries back up in a row near the Grandstand. One British dealer, a regular presence at Kempton, specialises in rustic antiques from southern France. A classic freestanding kitchen cupboard with chicken-wire inset in the doors, dated around 1890 and standing more than 6ft high, is on offer for £550. The paintwork is elegantly distressed, exposing multiple layers of different whites and greys and glimpses of wood. The same stall offers a selection of carved bedsteads. These have fallen to bargain prices over the past decade: a heavily carved solid walnut example, dated about 1900, goes for £150-£175.

On another outside pitch, Hendrycks, a gent from Ghent, reclines with a cigar on his deck chair, surrounded by a glittering selection of lighting. He sells chandeliers from £80 to £300; mostly postwar Belgian examples. He reckons he comes to Kempton 20 times a year, but laments the lack of private business in the summer: "Sometimes, after 9am, I am an exhibition."

On a stall specialising in English architectural antiques is a group of crown tops (chimney pots decorated with a pointed crown), ranging from £45 to £75. Commonly used as planters, these are often spruced up and painted in bright white or ice-cream colours. The ones on this stall are still in their natural state: aged and patinated, moss-clad terracotta.

At every step, there is a bargain for the taking. A vast garden seat, with ornate Victorian ironwork bench ends, painted municipal-park green, is in dire need of a fresh coat of paint, but at £135, it is fantastic value. Another Belgian, Martin van Orshaegen, sells from beneath a wroughtiron rose arch among various pieces of antique garden furniture. It's not an antique, but catch of the day on his stall is a an attractive blue-painted pine table with four chairs, each clearly marked " Restaurant C?te d'Azur", for £65. He sells dark blue enamelled Bulgarian street signs for £5 each. If asked what the legend means, he answers: "It means, whoever buys this will have good luck."

For sheer uniqueness, the frontrunner is the antique Chinese utility furniture on sale. All items are 60-80 years old and sourced by the owners of Asianart.co.uk, a Somerset-based company which makes regular buying trips to China. The large rough-hewn stools and vessels make unusual garden accessories. Square elm rice buckets go from £20; well buckets, hemispherical wooden vessels used for carrying water, are priced at £160 a pair, with rattan versions priced at £45 each.