Carole Peck talks to visitors during the event.
Review & Onsite Photos by Andrea Valluzzo
WATERTOWN, CONN. — For three decades, Carole Peck and Bernard Jarrier owned the beloved Good News Restaurant in Woodbury, Conn. While, Peck, a renowned chef, and her husband, Jarrier, a French artist, shaped diners’ palettes, they were simultaneously building an impressive collection of antiques, many of them, unsurprisingly, French.
Having closed their restaurant in 2024 and new owners taking it over a year later, the couple has enjoyed traveling and will soon embark on a year-long sabbatical to France. In preparation for the move, they decided to downsize their collections, working with Jeffrey Cote and his team at Watertown Antiques Gallery. A celebratory event to kick off the farewell sale at Watertown Antiques Gallery took place July 25, with Peck and Jarrier in attendance to have patrons wish them well in their next chapter of life, as well as peruse their collection.
A room in Cote’s gallery featured highlights from the couple’s nearly five-decade collecting journey, from artworks to furniture, decorative arts, glass and silver and, of course, culinary-related antiques such a miniature French cast iron stove in working order. Also on offer were a large French earthenware olive oil jug, a grouping of French porcelain dachshund knife rests, mercury glass and a bench-made mahogany Irish hunt table.
Among the items on display during the sale was this grouping.
“Bernard and I have been together for 50 years, and we have collected for 50 years, so we have quite an inventory of things,” Peck said, explaining that their collecting tastes happily aligned. “When we would walk into a place, we would just walk around and pick up the same thing to show each other so we got along. It’s not like he came home with something and I didn’t like it,” she noted, adding that she still has the first bowl they bought together. “I’ve always loved old things and when I was a kid, I would go to thrift shops.”
Asked if it was hard to let some pieces go, Peck replied, “Yes, it is difficult, but you know what I am doing? I’m cleaning out a little bit and then I can collect more if I want to.”
Though it was a one-day event with Peck and Jarrier in attendance, the sale at Watertown Antiques Gallery runs through August, and Cote said, “there are still plenty of great items for sale, as well as signed copies of her acclaimed book The Buffet Book.”
Watertown Antiques Gallery is at 56 Echo Lake Road. For information, 959-209-4179.
