This chalet is only available to guests booking the whole chalet for sole use.
Chalet Le Vieux Cret, Val D'Isere
In the little enclave known as the Village du Crêt there are about eight of Val d’Isère’s original chalets. It is clear how old they are from their worn stone steps, their wormy timbers and their lichen-spattered granite roof slabs.
So it comes as a slight surprise to see in any old photograph that until about 1980 there was just one, the 1620s farmhouse which later became the Mountain Lodges. The other chalets are all new, and their genuine C19 wheelbarrows and medieval drinking fountains came in a job lot from the local builder’s merchant. No matter, the new buildings look great.
Somehow, these two chalets, with their thick stone walls and hefty beams, do feel more solid and permanent than their imitators. More importantly, they have the best position, at the sunny front of the eponymous crêt or ridge.
The bedrooms are not huge, and are authentically higgledy-piggledy, two squeezed below the rafters, but they are all warm, welcoming and tasteful, with smart little bathrooms. Some of the single beds fit together to make 6ft doubles (please specify when you book). The vast sitting rooms have large log fires, balconies, WiFi, all-major-channel satellite with surround-sound etc. Each chalet has a separate dining room, where food is served which we defy any restaurant in Val d’Isère to match.
On the ground floor of each chalet are its chef’s cell and a sauna. We are told that a glass of bubbly in the latter, then a naked plunge into the snowy garden, works wonders for aching muscles.
The aches can come equally easily from over-energetic skiing or unaccustomed après-skiing, since the Funival is just one bus stop one way and the fleshpots of the village centre two stops the other. If you chose to walk for any reason, either would take ten minutes.
Features -Chalet Le Vieux Cret, Val D'Isere
- Part of a beautifully refurbished 1620s farmhouse
- En-suite facilities throughout.
- Some rooms give option of twin beds or six-foot doubles (please specify which you prefer when booking).
- Vast sitting room with log fire, satellite TV, DVD, surround sound.
- WiFi.
- Separate dining room.
- Sauna, boot warmers, garden.
- Silent, sunny position on edge of village, ten minutes’ walk from centre or Funival.
- Bus nearby, one stop to Funival, four to nursery slopes.
- A chef and an assistant, one of whom lives in self-contained ground-floor studio.
Acommodation -Chalet Le Vieux Cret, Val D'Isere
4 bedrooms for 8/10 guests, with 4 baths, 1 shower
- Bedroom 1: Double (10’ x 11’) on first floor. Bathroom with wc.
- Bedroom 2: Twin/double (9’ x 9’) on first floor. Bathroom with wc.
- Bedroom 3: Twin/double (13’ x 8’) on first floor. Bathroom with wc.
- Bedroom 4: Double (11’ x 8’6”) on ground floor with bathroom (small bath) and separate wc.
- Sitting Room: (20’ x 20’) On the top floor. Enormous, high-ceilinged room. Fireplace, DVD, satellite TV (all major channels), fridge for your hooch. Mezzanine with two pull-out beds. Large south-facing balcony. WiFi.
- Dining Room: (12’ x 12’6”) Next to sitting room. Open-plan kitchen not included in measurements.
- Extra Beds: Mezzanine (13’ x 13’) with twin half-price sofa beds (extra wc and basin between sitting and dining rooms).
- Sauna: On ground floor with further shower
Meals - Chalet Le Vieux Cret, Val D'Isere
For six days of the week the staff prepares all your meals.
We start with a proper breakfast. Fruit juice, porridge, Dorset cereals, bacon, eggs, baguettes straight from the famous local bakery, a croissant or pain au chocolat if you like, yogurts, British tea and fresh coffee from Italian espresso pots (with Nescafé and bizarre infusions for those who prefer them). A Cooked Breakfast option is also available.
You return from the slopes to find bread and jam, a freshly-baked cake, hot chocolate etc. left out for you.
Nightly canapés are followed by a three-course, fixed-menu, dinner-party-style meal. The cuisine is largely French, though with a fusion of other influences – what Londoners call Modern British. (Foreign, in other words.) With dinner, we serve free unlimited quantities of a selection of very drinkable French AOC wines and vins de pays.
Please Note: For all parties booking, we levy a damage deposit of £1,000. This is payable by credit card prior to departure, and refunded after the end of the holiday upon satisfactory inspection of the chalet.