Chalet De Pierre

The Property

The five bedroom, five bathroom, ski-in, ski-out Chalet de Pierre with sauna, hot tub, gym and private lift, is one of the smartest chalets in Val d’Isère.

The good-sized bedrooms have small but tasteful bathrooms. More importantly, each room has a pair of decent-sized beds which fit together to make a huge double if your holiday is going well, or slide apart if it isn’t. And better still, the rooms have picture windows giving breathtaking views of sunrise over the Galise or sunset behind Bellevarde.

The sitting-dining room up under the hefty rafters, with its open-plan kitchen, is vast. In a village where a coffee-table’s worth of property can sell for £20,000, it is amazing to find so much space.

The table has been hand-made to our specifications: three diners on the longer sides, two on the ends. That’s the way to get a good conversation going! Not one of these long, thin tables where you get stuck next to your mother-in-law and miss the punchline from the other end. Mealtimes are accompanied by an unforgettable view of Bellevarde.

At the other end of the room there’s an equally spectacular view across the bottom of the lovely, smooth L piste and up to the glaciers of the Italian border from big, squashy sofas around the log fire. When it gets dark, there’s a flat-screen TV with lots of programmes in French, some in English, and a selection of DVDs.

On the ground floor, between the front door and the private lift which whisks you to the bedroom floor or the living room floor, are the ski room, boot warmers, sauna and gym (cross trainer, cycling and rowing machines – just what you need after eight hours’ skiing).