Delightful French chalet close to La Clusaz/Le Grand Bornand

“We stumbled across the Aravis region whilst out touring the Alps looking for somewhere to buy as a holiday home. We had spent days trailing around ski resorts all over the Alps. We were hoping to find a house in an area where we could ski in the winter but that we would be able to visit all year round. It was low season and most of the resorts were like ghost towns. Nothing was open and nobody was around. We were beginning to think that we were never going to find what we were looking for.

Our final destination was to see a property in St Jean de Sixt, a small village just outside the two main ski resorts of La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand. As we approached, it was obvious that as well as a ski resort, this was a working community and because of this, it was busy all year round. At the time we were particularly struck with how lively Le Grand Bornand was.

We went on to buy the house that we were going to view that day. We had been looking for somewhere with a sunny deck, a beautiful view and plenty of character. Chalet Gueraudaz definitely has all three. The chalet was built in the late 1700’s but not on the site that it stands today. Sometime during the 1940’s it was transported from it’s original location, down the mountain, by helicopter, and relocated in the hamlet of Forgeassoud Dessous. It sits on a quiet road looking down the valley to Thones surrounded by a small number of similar properties mostly owned by local people.

Although the external wood is all original and many of the internal features have been preserved, the chalet has been completely modernised. We have arranged the chalet so that the room layout works well for us either when we are staying on our own with our 3 children or when we have friends and family staying.

The open plan kitchen and dining area, have sofas and a wood burning fire in the room. This means we can cook, eat and relax all together. We have deliberately not put a television or games consoles in this room so that we can enjoy each others company without distraction. This room opens out on to the sunny south facing deck which in the summer is shaded by the rampant grapevines.

There is a separate room adjacent to the kitchen where we have more sofas, a sky TV and a DVD player. We also have a collection of DVD’s to chose from. This room opens out on to the lawn and the under cover dining area and hammock. Leading off of this room is a large family bathroom with bath and separate shower. Lying in the bath, you can see the Massif de l’Aiguille in the distance.

We have four double rooms upstairs and two more bathrooms. One of the bedrooms is a twin room and the other three are doubles. One of the bathrooms is ensuite. We can comfortably have two families sleeping upstairs without feeling in each others way.

In the basement, we have our laundry facilities which we happily share with our guests. This area can also be used for locking away bikes and buggys to keep them safe. On the ground floor level we have an outside heated boot room which we use all the time for storing ski gear in the winter and the barbecue and garden furniture in the summer.

From the deck looking north you can see the Massif d’Aiguille in the distance, and looking south, you can see right down the valley to Thones. The sun shines on the deck all day long, even during the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky.

The appeal of visiting this area in the winter is obvious. The skiing is extensive and the apres ski can be as much or as little as you want it to be. In St Jean de Sixt, we are equidistant to both La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand. Although the skiing is excellent in both resorts, for the winter months, we tend to gravitate towards La Clusaz. We enjoy the skiing, the ice skating and swimming in the outside municipal pool. We enjoy visiting the bars Le Bonnet’Ane and Le Cave. If we are dining out in the evening, our favourite place to take the children is Bercail, as it is only accessible via Skidoo. The children find this hilarious and so do we. The food is very traditional for the region and excellent. L’outa is another good fun reasonably priced family restaurant with something on the menu for everyone. For both restaurants it is essential to book.

During the summer, we can spend hours in the pool in Grand Bornand where there are 3 separate pools and a water slide. We also enjoy walking the mountain tracks. The children like to take the telecabine up to Beauregard in La Clusaz and walk down the mountain, catching crickets and eating blueberries. We bribe them with a Crepe from Ugo when they get to the bottom if they all manage not to moan about the walk.

Our daughter’s like to ride horses and often they will spend time at the Centre Equestre in Thones, riding and caring for the ponies. None of the staff speak English but they manage to communicate with the girls by waving there arms around a lot and shouting at them. On the same campus, there is an adventure tree climbing centre and the local swimming pool and karting track are very close by too. This keeps our son happy while the girls are riding, as he has no interest in horses.

Annecy is another favourite place for us to visit. We hire bikes and cycle round the lake with more bribing going on of a trip to the 56 flavour icecream shop on Quai Perrier if there is no moaning. Swimming in the lake is lovely and there lots of vendors on the lake side who hire boats and pedlos by the hour. We sometimes drive down to Annecy in the evenings to eat at one of the restaurants on the water front and watch the sun go down over the water.

The markets in La Clusaz, Le Grand Bornand and Thones are worth a visit. They are all on different days and it is worth checking out which days they are on at the local tourist office. For summer holidays we usually buy a Carte de Loisirs from the tourist information office in St Jean de Sixt at the beginning of the holiday. The card offers you discounts on most leisure activities in the area. You can nominate the amount you want to charge to the card and any balance that is left on the card at the end of the holiday can be credited back to you. It’s definitely worth doing.

For food shopping we make a trip to Intermarche in Villards-sur-Thones when we arrive and do a big shop. We tend to use the local shops for our daily shopping. The two Boulangeries in St Jean de Sixt are excellent and there are numerous small supermarkets in the main towns. Our store cupboard is usually well stocked with non perishable items like cooking oils, herbs and spices, dried pasta and rice, so if you have a chance it is a good idea to check what is in the cupboard before you go shopping. Our guests are welcome to help themselves to anything they can use in the cupboard. In return, they tend to leave behind items that they have purchased but not finished for the benefit of others.

These days, we find ourselves living on the other side of the world for a few years which means that we cannot visit our beautiful chalet as often as we would like. Our children have all grown up holidaying in St Jean de Sixt. They have all learnt to ski in La Clusaz with Ecole du Ski International (ESI) under the tutorship of Pierre, Joel and Ludo. We have tried the skiing in Australia and New Zealand and it was a great experience but we prefer skiing in Les Aravis. We hope you enjoy your time here as much as we do.

Juliet & Spencer LOCK

We had been looking for somewhere with a sunny deck, a beautiful view and plenty of character. Chalet Gueraudaz definitely has all three....

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