Here, check out the latest nonsense, news and drivel from our funny little world in the mountains...

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23 February 2008 - revving up for another new summer

I'm writing to you from the office in my warehouse up in the Alps. It's a glorious sunny day out there, but warehouses for wine don't tend to have many windows, so it could be peeing with rain or snow for all I care.

Winter has been a hectic time over here. I cleared out of St Andre at the end of October to get set up for the winter season in Chamonix. It's been a manic few months - mainly on the wine front. My business has taken off this year and we're on course to sell more than 130,000 bottles + 40,000 litres in bag-in-box to chalet operators across the French Alps. That's a lot of boxes and a serious logistical challenge (esp when it's snowed non-stop for 2 days and you've got to get 200 boxes of wine 2000m up a mountain).

I'd say the winter is somewhat less stressful for Rosie the puss. In Chamonix, she rarely goes out much - it's far too cold and snowy for a soft southern cat like her... The major dilemmas revolve around whether to curl up on this or that chair, this or that bed, this or that lap. What a blissful existence.

In the meantime, it's only a few weeks until our first guests arrive at Les Beaux Terroirs. I've been down south most of this week - spending time at the Vinisud wine trade show in Montpellier, as well as popping my head round the door in St Andre. The weather was glorious on Thu/Fri - we had lunch outside on the terrace. There's that real whiff of spring in the air - the sun is brighter, the days are longer, you feel hot in your jumper and the blossom has started to appear. I even saw a few irises out already, which seems extraordinarily early.

I can't wait for summer. Despite choosing to be in Chamonix half the year, I'll always be a summer bunny. And I think Mar/April/May/June is my favourite period, when everything bursts out and you're full of anticipation for the summer ahead. It also gives you the perfect excuse to leap into a few bottles of the new season's rosé...

We've got a fair bit of space here throughout spring and early summer, so we're doing deals to put bums on seats: 25% off our listed prices during April, May & June. I really think it is the most glorious time to be here: everything is so colourful and lush, nowhere is horribly busy and - best of all for you - the prices are much lower than in high season! That's even more true with the extra 25% discount. Don't dally if you want to get on down here.

I'm in Chamonix for most of March, before heading off to Australia with Elissa and the girls on 26 Mar to hang out with her family. Can't wait for that - never been there before. We get back mid-April and from then onwards, I'll be bouncing around between St Andre, Chamonix and the UK for the summer. Should be fun.

Look forward to seeing you in France sometime this year.

Toodlepip for now,

Sam

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23 Feb 2007 - What a funny old winter we're having...

As no-one in the universe can possibly be unaware of (especially if you're exposed to the UK media), this winter has been far from a vintage one snow-wise. Nov/Dec snowfall was virtually nil (it fell as rain instead) and we've only had 3 decent falls since (2 in Jan and 1 around Feb half-term).

But there's been good skiing on offer throughout (even when the situation was at its dodgiest over Xmas/New Year) and we've lost count of the number of people arriving in Cham and saying happily "but we thought there was nothing open to ski on". Seems like another case of the media jumping on an opportune bandwagon - a poorish few weeks of snow in the Alps combined with increased public awareness of climate change and it's game over for the Alpine ski industry apparently.

Thankfully that's not the case (even if George Bush is still a tosser). Here at Chalet PT, we've had a couple of quiet weeks, much to my annoyance (when it comes to paying the bills), but have otherwise been more or less full as usual. We've had the usual mixture of families and groups of mates, mostly coming over from the UK, and quite a few familiar faces coming back for another fix of Chalet PT fun 'n games.

Cath & Liam have taken to things like proverbial ducks to water. While Liam works mainly in the chalet, Cath helps me with the bookings and invoicing. Liam's cooking has been rapturously received, esp by certain female guests (tho' don't tell Cath).

Rosie the cat has been back in the chalet on and off during the season. She wasn't supposed to be living there again to avoid any allergy issues with guests. But my plan for alternative lodgings fell through and she's been playing the 'chalet cat' role to perfection once again.

Up on the mountain, it hasn't been the powderfest that most of us living here in Cham hanker after. But the piste-bashers and snow machines have kept things going when nature has fallen short and the pistes have been mostly in decent nick. A lot of us forget that the vast majority of ski holidaymakers never venture off-piste, so a lack of thigh-deep powder is of precisely zilcho concern to them.

I managed to miss both dumps of snow that fell in Jan (over in the UK with my other half who unfortunately lives in London). But I got the timing spot on for the best fall of the winter to date - last week from about 10 Feb onwards. Despite the thermometer jumping up and down like a yoyo, meaning far too much rain was falling instead of snow, things got a right good filling in higher up, with well over 100cm of snow recorded in some areas. We had a couple of fab days playing inbetween the trees over the back of Le Tour last Wed/Thu - my favourite piece of ski terrain in the whole valley.

There's a load more snow forecast over the next few days, so things are setting themselves up nicely for March. We've got space for 2-3 people between 9-14 Mar - drop us a line if you'd like to squeeze in a trip to take advantage of the new snow.

We've also got most rooms available from 18-25 Mar and 25 Mar-1 Apr, so get in touch if you didn't ski earlier in the season and are ready to book up now. The law of averages suggests that we should get a decent middle and end of season, after the poor start. Don't miss out!

Bye for now,

Sam, Cath, Liam & Rosie the cat

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15 Sept 06 – From Chicken Kiev to Tartiflette…

A slightly spurious title, you might think. Fair enough. But as I write this stream of drivel, I’m sitting in my cabin on an overnight sleeper in Ukraine – on my way back from the Crimea to Kiev (and from there back to London/France). A friend got married out here last weekend, so we took the opportunity to explore the country a bit. I’ve only managed to eat one lot of Chicken Kiev since we got here - you don't seem to see it on many restaurant menus…

Anyway, it’ll soon be the season of tartiflette, wipe-outs in white-outs and far too many jars of après-ski booze. We’re already half-way through Sept, which makes it the time when most skiers put away the snorkels, dust off the goggles and start rehearsing a few dodgy moves, as we look towards the approaching winter season with ill-concealed glee.

Good job the World Cup is only once every 4 years

Here at Chalet PT, it’s been another summer Chamonix-style. That means providing a base for people in search of hiking, mountain biking, rafting, canyoning, climbing and all sorts of fun stuff. May and June were fairly quiet everywhere – perhaps a consequence of the World Cup keeping people stuck at home/in the pub watching their favourite overpaid, cheating, oikish football “players” fighting, prancing and diving about in Germany. What odds Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2008 Olympic springboard title? And Wayne Rooney for the Welterweight gold?!?

Through July and August, we welcomed several groups in the chalet, some of whom were coming back for more after previous trips. July was blessed with awesome weather, August less so. But that’s one of the cool things in Cham during summer. Even when the weather rules out certain stuff, there’s always something else to keep you busy – even the kids.

Sunshine and wine

Two family groups (the Brockmans and the Nicholls) took advantage of the twin-centre trips we offer. They spent a week in Cham tearing about and tiring everyone out, before heading down south to my other place (see www.lesbt.com) for some serious R&R by the pool and in the local wine cellars. As with the previous summer’s twin-centre guests, they seemed to think it a great way to spend their summer hols.

I’ve been down south for most of the summer. We finished the latest round of renovation work there in April – my own house. That’s been fab, especially the west-facing roof terrace, perfect for catching the last rays of the setting sun with a few glasses of rosé inside you…

I tend to head up to Chamonix once or twice a month, which is always fun – catch up on mates, get out and about in the valley, escape the sometimes extreme heat of the south. I’ve also been selling more and more wine over summer – we’ve shifted serious amounts of rosé in particular.

Every good home should have a Sally

But here we are in autumn and well into build-up time for winter 06-07.

The biggest change for us this winter is on the people front. After keeping our guests fabulously fed and looked after for 3 winters on the trot (not to mention keeping me on the straightish and narrow), Sally is finally hanging up her odd socks and moving on. As everyone who has stayed here will testify, she has been utterly amazing to have running the place. She’s the loveliest person you will ever meet and work with, she never gets stroppy, she’s a fab cook and an absolute hoot. We wish her all the v v best with her next moves and will miss her particular brand of organised lunacy enormously. Debs unfortunately won’t be around either, but that was always going to be the case (as a Kiwi, she only had a one-year working visa for France).

But worry not folks! Would I let you down like that??? Would I heck.

Welcome to Cath and Liam

The equally fab and merry Cath and Liam will be running the chalet this winter. Chamonix veterans of several seasons, they’ve decided they miss Chamonix too much (even though they’re currently in not-too-shabby NZ) and fancy the opportunity of coming to steer the good ship ‘Petit Tinqueur’. With them at helm, we can promise the same style of great fun, well-organised hols that we’ve aimed to give since the kickoff.

We’ll never be the most uber-formal, broom-up-our-bottom chalet in the universe; if that’s what you prefer, you should look elsewhere. But we look forward to welcoming lots more folk during winter 06-07 and showing you a fab time in Chamonix – in the chalet, on the mountain and out in town. Give us a shout now to check on latest availability.

Hope to see you out here in the next few months.

Ciao for now,

Sam

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1 Mar 2006: "Ach, mein Gott! Vere hast der Winter gone?!?!"

Not quite sure why I wrote that title in some crappy German accent. Isn't like we see many Germans or Austrians around here. But as I was reflecting on it already being 1 March today, my surprise came out clothed auf Deutsch for some strange reason. Warum nicht, Du hast ein Problem...?!?!

          

Above: me, Debs and Sal monkeying about on my b'day, watching the World Cup race at Les Houches (this was before lunch...)

So much for all my good intentions to update 'Tinker's tales' more regularly this season. Web gurus advocate keeping a website updated with 'fresh' content to make it more engaging (or 'sticky', to use the jargon). Failed in that one, then. Just had too much stuff on my plate once more.

So today is the first day of March, which in my mind makes it the first day of spring. Not that the snow gods think like that. It's been snowing a bit today in town and there's a load forecast over the next couple of days. Which is all great, 'cos our booking season runs well into April and we don't want you to be skiing on grass/mud, do we?

But we've got a good 10 weeks or so of the season behind us already and - as always - it has positively screamed by.

Busy little bees

We've been pretty much chocca comme d'habitude - family groups during the school hols and various tribes of reprobates at other times. More good folk yet again - we still manage to maintain our tosser-free record.

We've had a fair few returning groups again this year. Must be because of the girls - surely nothing to do with me. Nice when we get returning guests - it's more like having mates to stay than de facto 'clients'.

Debs has been a fab addition to our merry little crew. All the guests love her, so that's me falling even further down the pecking order behind her and Sal.

Her natural good looks have been compromised in recent days after she slammed her knees into her nose while messing up a jump (following me - oooops, so much for being a responsible boss). Left her with 2 great big shiners and a hooter the size of Australia! Sally, the sympathetic little sweetie, has since been reduced to calling Debs 'Badger' or 'Panda' in honour of her new facial colour scheme...

Meanwhile Rosie (or Rosé - guess where the inspiration for that name came from...???) has fitted straight into her supervisory management role as chief chalet cat.

            

Above: Rosé the cat - the prettiest little cat in the world...

When she turned up at my place down south in September, I bet the last thing she was expecting was a winter up in the snow of Chamonix (let alone the snip she got at the vets last week...) But she's been great - she really is a cute little cat. She doesn't go out much here - partly 'cos I prefer her not to, partly 'cos she likes the warmth and company in the chalet. But most of our guests have loved her - even the ones who claim to be allergic to cats and despite her constant chat! I'll be taking her back south at the end of March, so she'll be back to her summer residence before long.

What else to report? Well, the snow has been pretty good this winter. Apart from a longish pause between falls from mid-Jan to mid-Feb, we've had good snow and some amazing days out in the powder. I've even managed a few days up on the hill myself - already done more this winter than in the whole of last season...

I've been down south a bit, checking up on the latest building works at 'Les Beaux Terroirs' - see some pics of this winter's undertakings plus an update a bit like this one here (click the pics when you get there to enlarge them). First booking down south is on 31 Mar and the 3 cottages are filling up nicely throughout the spring/summer/autumn. Have another nose at the site (http://www.lesbt.com/) - I've put some more pics up there in recent weeks. Drop me a line if you'd like to come down...

In vino veritas

My new wine business has had a pretty good first 3 months. We've shifted several thousand bottles of wine to other chalets and hotels in the valley, keeping hundreds of chalet guests fuelled with decent vino, while doing my bit for the French wine industry. Let's face it, they need all the help they can get at the mo.

As you'd expect, there have been some good nights out. The Chambre 9 is the usual scene of much of the tomfoolery - jugs of Amstel interspersed with shots of lovely things like Fernet Branca. I've developed a particular speciality this season of dancing on the bar there - come along soon if you want to see the show.

We were a bit disappointed with the efforts there of last week's guests (returning S African folk living in London - you know who you are...) After Sal, Debs and I got up to dance on one of the tables during apres-ski, the saffas let the side down a bit with a lack of joining in. Next time, next time...

Subliminal message time: BOOK, BOOK, BOOK...

Anyway, that's enough drivel for now. The night is getting on and I've just finished my bottle of wine. Bedtime beckons.

If you missed the subtle subliminal message in that last heading, now's the time to get out your cheque books and sort out some summer fun in either of my French funzones.

I still find it amazing how small a number of adrenalin-seeking skiers/boarders come back to the mountains in the summer - when it's even more fun and action-packed than winter. Do you know what you're missing?!? See http://www.chaletpt.com/Summer_activities.15.0.html for some hints...

And as for down south, it truly is paradise - no exaggeration. Come and check it out - you'll be hooked. All the blurb and pics are at www.lesbt.com.

Look forward to seeing you out in France sometime soon.

Love Sam, Sal, Rosie and 'Badger'...

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11 December 2005: "Check out the snow - best start in years"

'Ello 'ello tout le monde,

What do you make of that, eh?!? Great innit? That's the view across to the Mont Blanc massif from the top of Brevent, taken at 5pm yesterday evening (Sat 10 Dec) with the Chamonet.com panoramic webcam. Whaddaya waiting for - get out here now! We've got last-min availability up to Sun 18 Dec...

It's been snowing on/off for the last fortnight now. I can't remember the last time so much snow has fallen this early in the season - some of the locals are saying up to 10 years. There's already over a metre at 2000m and a good 50-60cm in town. I was down the valley in Bonneville yesterday morning and there was even snow as far down as there. It all augurs well for the season - a good early base gives later falls something decent to anchor to.

Bienvenue to the lovely Debbie...

I came up from the south nearly a week and a half ago and picked Debbie up from Geneva airport on the way. That's her at the top of the screen with a reptilian friend. She's settled in great, getting her hands dirty as we give the chalet a good old scrubdown ready for a winterful of guests. She's met some of the gang as well, so has had a chance to discover the unique style and personality of life at Chalet PT...

She's been out for her first go on the board today, while I'm still to get out on my planks (or 'bats', as one of our mates calls them). Hopefully sometime this weekend. We've just had too much to sort out.

December is one of the best times of the year in Chamonix. Of course it helps if there's loads of snow, but there's a real buzz of excitement as the winter season start approaches, familiar faces arrive back in town, new faces turn up. And it's nice for us lot, because it gives us the time to get things ready for the season, catch up with mates and maybe even go skiing - before all of you lot turn up to be looked after! We love you really...

...and also to 'Cat'...

There's another new member of the chalet gang - 'Cat' the, er, cat. She turned up one day in September at my place down south. Once I had fed her, I guess that was it. She's stuck around ever since, funnily enough.

We haven't really got a proper fixed name for her yet. She's only about 1 year old and is really quite small. I've been calling her 'Cat', 'Little Cat' or 'LC'. She's also been called 'Rosé'/'Rosy' by some - given that life down south revolves around consuming endless amounts of the stuff. Someone even suggested that we hold a competition this season among guests to come up with a name for her - whaddaya reckon?!?

I think she'll be living in the chalet, unless we have any major cat allergy sufferers. She's a little sweetie - ever so friendly and touchy-feely. As soon as anyone sits down, she's up on your lap in a flash. As I write this text sitting on the sofa, she's managed to curl herself into a little ball between my laptop and my hip. In a town full of dogs, she's a welcome change and quite a delight.

Tchin tchin, glug glug... 

The other thing that's been keeping me busy recently is my new wine company - 'Le Verre Gourmand' is its name (gourmand in French is more about the hedonistic bon viveur life than the poncier notion of gourmet). Set up with 2 French mates who work in the business, we held our first tasting last Sat at the Hotel Gustavia (that's the hotel where the Chambre 9 pub is to be found).

We had about 60 people turn up - mostly other chalet owners whom we'd invited to flog nice chalet wine to this season. We also had 3 producers from down south come along as well to talk about their wines, which went down a storm. The upshot of it was orders for 1500+ bottles of wine, so I guess that's quite a success. Even if you don't make it to Chalet PT this winter, at least you now stand a better chance of drinking decent vino in some of the other chalets around town...

So there's an early season bulletin for you. Sally arrives on Monday evening from England - she's passed her driving test, so we'll be warning all the local marmottes to take cover. I'm back down south on Mon to sign zillions of pieces of paper to formally set up the wine company. Doing anything official in France is rarely straightforward. Will be touring around - placing and collecting the orders we received from last weekend's tasting, so it's all good fun. Then back up to Chamonix on Wed eve for hopefully a bit of pre-Xmas skiing before the hordes turn up. Never can be too sure, though...

Don't forget, if you've got some holiday to use up, get on the blower now and book a few days with us before Sun 18 Dec. We've got room in the chalet, the snow is awesome and it'll be ludicrously cheap...

Ciao for now

Sam, Sal, Debs & 'Cat'

 

31 October 2005: "Hello, this is Planet Tinqueur calling..."

Bonjour world,

Been a bit quiet on the Tinker's tales front this summer. I've been down south at my new place most of the time and we haven't got the interweb up and running there yet. I'm sure you just about managed to survive without our words of wisdom...

Hope you've had a good summer, wherever you were (if you weren't in Chamonix or down south with me, why on earth not?!?).

Same old story at this end - doesn't time just zoom by? I headed south at the end of April to oversee the final couple of months' work on the new gaff there. A couple of blinks later, the first guests were arriving at the start of July and now here we are, with the first snows falling on the hills around Chamonix. Gor blimey geezer, can someone slow the clock down?!?

Here in Cham, Anita has been looking after our summer guests, keeping them on the straight and narrow, while charming them with her ever-so-slightly "Ooooooh aarrrrr" English West Country accent. We had more self-catered guests this year than last and fewer activity groups - which I was a bit surprised about, 'cos there are so many fun things to do here during summer.

I've been up to Cham a few times since April, mostly just for 2-3 days at a time - a couple of weddings, to see the accountant (yawn...), get out on a mountain bike. Talking of which, I bought myself a new bike in May. All seemed fine as I used it sometimes to ride around the vines near my place down south. Until I brought it up to Chamonix and took it up its first actual 'mountain'.

500m after getting off the Bellevue cable car in Les Houches, a whole chunk of the metal gear bits sheared off completely, leaving me with a crippled bike. Needless to say, I was none to impressed: here was a mountain bike that fell apart 2 minutes after hitting its first, er, mountain.

Anyway, we've continued our good run of guests with lovely gangs from the UK, Oz/NZ - also my group of Americans who booked up to take advantage of the discount I ran last autumn before their elections (5% off for voting John Kerry). They were a great bunch.

Meanwhile, back down south, May and June were hectic, as we raced towards getting Les Beaux Terroirs ready in time for first guests in July. The whole project has been massive. We pretty much smashed the place apart and started again from scratch - knocking down walls/doorways, sticking in new stairs, building new walls, installing new electrics and plumbing throughout, replacing all windows, redoing the roof, building a swimming pool, landscaping the gardens, painting more walls/ceilings than you've had hot dinners and more...

But what a fabulous feeling of satisfaction to get it finished on time, to return a set of beautiful old buildings to a fit state and - most importantly - to hear our guests rave about the place and start planning return visits for next year. Have a look at the Photo gallery on the Les Beaux Terroirs website if you haven't already checked it out.

One of the best things about being down there is being able to hop in the car and get quickly to so many wonderful wine producers. The village lies in the Ceze Valley (a tributary of the Rhone) which is covered in vineyards. There are some lovely producers in and around the valley, even if they're not as well known as other nearby areas like Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas. I've been able to sniff out some great wines - from cheap everyday 3-4€ a bottle stuff to sensational special occasion wines that cost a few bucks more.

Even when you think you're pushing the boat out and spending 15-20€ on a bottle of mind-blowingly fab Chateauneuf, you have to remember that the same wine would cost about £15-20 in the UK and that you're spending no more than if you bought a fairly standard bottle of wine in most UK restaurants.

It's always fun and fascinating to visits producers on their own turf. Wine producers are invariably interesting, eccentric and slightly mad people. And wine tends to get grown in parts of the world that are coincidentally rather beautiful. So it's win-win-win every time.

This winter, I'm setting up another company with 2 French friends in the wine industry. We'll be selling a range of wines to independent catered chalets in Chamonix, Meribel and Morzine. We'll also be launching a sort of 'wine club' thingy to customers living in France - you buy an annual subscription and receive 3 different wines from us every quarter, which you can then order by the case at direct-from-producer prices. Should be fun.

Things have now more or less finished for the summer season. I've got a couple of groups of mates coming through both places in the next few weeks. Otherwise in Chamonix, it's the time to spruce up the chalet, install an additional hot water tank (lots more hot showers this winter...) and repaint the place. Meanwhile down south, the builders start work again in early November on another part of the property - this time creating a house that will be my own place!

We're looking forward to the start of winter 05-06 in Chamonix. With Anita getting ready for the imminent arrival of her first sprog, Sally's back here in Dec and will be joined this winter by the lovely Debbie Parrant. Rest assured, I have not been relaxing my exacting recruitment standards.

We've already shifted 11 weeks of the season, so if you're keen for some fun 'n games Chalet PT-style this winter, get in touch pronto. See latest availability here.

Les Beaux Terroirs is also open throughout winter and spring, with super-duper-cheap off-season prices. The wood burners and radiators go in over the next few weeks too, so you'll be lovely and toasty. With Ryanair/BA/Air France flights all year round, beautiful countryside and quiet cities to visit, you'll love it. See prices here.

Enjoy autumn and we look forward to seeing you en France soon.

Toodlepip.

Sam, Sally, Anita et Debbie

 

16 April 05: Here comes the summer...

Bonjour tout le monde,

Ca va bien wherever you are? As I write this in the chalet, it’s dumping with snow once again. The last 2 or 3 Aprils have had awesome snow and this one is no different. Get booking for April 2006 (never one to miss a promotional opportunity…)!

Last weekend, I was in the UK for a family bash. Which meant I missed out on nearly a metre of freshies on the Grands Montets (Sally didn’t – she kept texting me in Blighty to rub it in, the cow…). This weekend, I’ve got to head south for a few days while it snows here, but I’ll be back midweek to get my share of it before the season comes to a close at the start of May.

I say this every time I write a Tinker’s tales, but it’s unbelievable how quickly things fly by. It really only seems like a couple of weeks ago that my mates and Dad turned up to kick the season off. But bugger me, that was over 4 months back.

This season has been one of the coldest on record. From the middle of Jan until about the second week in March, it was Baltic right through. It’s been like that everywhere in France – brass monkeys pour tout le monde. At least that meant the snow stayed around and everyone has had some good skiing.

We’ve had quite an international season, talking about our guests. As well as zillions of Aussies, Kiwis and Saffers, we’ve had yanks and next week (our last of the season), we’ve got a group coming from Romania. They’re all from a wine producer over there, so I’m looking forward to tasting some grog with them.

Looking back since the last posting, we had a lovely group in to start the month of March – Jo and his mob. We then had a couple of pretty lively gangs of mates – one rallied together by Orla and the other by Sue. After Philippa and her posse had been and gone, we had a right laugh with the Wood and McManus families after Easter (and – despite stiff competition – Sarah Wood definitely won the ‘Yummy Mummy of the Season’ award).

Since then, we’ve had a couple of returning groups from last summer – Cat and Rod (our favourite little Welshies) plus Laura and Jon (wind-up merchant extraordinaire). As I’ve mentioned before, it’s great when you have groups who come back. It’s just like having a bunch of your mates come to stay. With them were the Brettler family, who took it very well when I accidentally blocked their car in, meaning they couldn’t get the kids up to ski school…

With one more group to go after Bree and her Aussie/SA/Brit mob this week, we’ll be wrapping up the skis and whipping out the sandals.

I’ll be spending most of the summer down south at ‘Les Beaux Terroirs’, my new place near Avignon. The renovations have continued throughout the winter months and we’ve got until the end of June to finish the work, landscape/plant the gardens and furnish the gite and apartments. At the risk of tempting fate, we’re right on schedule and I’m looking forward to having a gang of my mates and family to stay in the last week of June – they’ll be my guinea pigs. (They might not know it yet, but I may well be thrusting a few brushes and spades in their faces…)

I won’t just be loafing about in the sun, quaffing rosé and pastis. I’ll be working a couple of days a week with Arnaud Warnery, a wine producer near Montpellier. I’ll be doing whatever gimpwork he needs doing around the domaine. The aim is to soak up knowledge and expertise so that, one day, I will know how you grow grapes and turn them into great wine…

I’ll be back in Chamonix about once a month for a few days, which I’m looking forward to. With all the fun stuff to do here like mountain biking and rafting, it’ll be a great contrast to the gentler pace of things down south.  

Sally is back off to Blighty sometime in May and plans to spend most of the summer there, learning to drive (watch out the hedgehogs of Yorkshire) and catching up with friends/family. As anyone who has been here will testify, it’s a shame she won’t be around in Cham. This winter, she’s once again been the key to our success and to our guests having a fab time at Chalet PT. No words can praise that girl too highly. 

In her place, we’ll have the lovely Anita – a mate from here who has been working for one of the other chalet companies this winter. Believe you me, it’s a pretty good swap from Sally to her…

That’s about all for now. If you haven’t got your summer hols sorted yet, COME AND STAY WITH US! With super-duper activity hols in Chamonix and lazy loafing trips down south, you’ve got all the choice you need (and we’re even running twin-centre trips to include both).

Enjoy the rest of spring…

Adios for now,

Sam

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23 February 05: Zooming past the season’s half-way mark

Apols for the lack of recent tales. I hope you’ve somehow managed without it…

Winter 04-05 has been flying along in a haze of happy guests, fab snow, copious booze and great times. Since a gang of my mates (plus my old man) turned up for the second weekend in December, we’ve been pretty much chocca full. We’ve had some families during the school holidays, but it’s mostly been groups of mates coming over for a good time.

At least half the time, we’ve had Kiwis, Aussies and S Africans in the chalet. I like that, ‘cos they’re usually v laid back and good fun. They also tend to be the most in awe of Chamonix and its spectacular nature.

Xmas came and went – with a decent snowfall coming just in time to cover the slopes (things had been looking a bit dicey up ‘til then). New Year was its usual mega-busy self. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really understood why people come skiing over New Year. It’s the most expensive week of the year and there are zillions of people around town and on the mountain. I’m not complaining of course (and I’ve already sold New Year 05-06 week), but I certainly wouldn’t be spending my own money on it!

January always seems a good bet in my book. It snowed pretty heavily during the middle of the month and we were full throughout – I think people have started to wise up to the fact that you can have great skiing for low prices on empty slopes. I had some S African mates staying during the second week of Jan, but not before I’d joined them in the Rhone Valley for a few days’ serious wine-tasting beforehand (Mike is a real wine buff – someone I can really get on with…)

‘Les Beaux Terroirs’ – my new place down in the south of France

Talking of the Rhone, my big news has been kicking off the renovation work at the new place I’ve bought down south, which I’ve named ‘Les Beaux Terroirs’ with its wine connotations.

It’s a pretty serious undertaking – turning some 250-year old houses on the edge of a village into a series of top-notch holiday cottages and apartments. But it’s going great. The builders are flying along (you don’t hear that very often in France), ably assisted/supervised by Simon my cousin, who is down there permanently.

I’m down there about half the time – sorting stuff out with Simon and the builders, getting things in place for this summer, writing out big cheques and of course sampling a few bottles of the local poison. This being the southern end of the Rhone Valley, that poison is pretty bloody special…

For summer 05, there will be one big cottage to sleep up to 8-10, plus 2 apartments each sleeping 2-4. We’re putting in a pool as well. From summer 06, there will be a further cottage sleeping 4-6, another sleeping 2-4 and another apartment sleeping 2-4.

It really is FAB down there and I love it – check out the new website at www.lesbt.com. I’m going to be spending a lot of time there (easy, ‘cos it’s only 3 hrs 30 mins by car from Chamonix) – running the place this summer, but also to get more involved in winey things. I plan to team up with a local producer down there to work with him/her and learn as much as possible about the craft – how you look after the vines, harvesting, making the wines once they are in the cave, etc. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that I eventually want to own some vineyards and make my own wine – watch this space…

Meanwhile, back in Chamonix…

We’ve had a few guests back from last winter, which is nice. Guests get 10% off all future trips to Chalet PT (and now including Les Beaux Terroirs) – an added incentive to get out here for some fun. Dylan (aka ‘Gimpboy’), Marty and Craig came back in the first week of Feb along with a couple more of their mates. They were joined in the chalet by a couple of other returning guests – Robin and Martyn from Glasgow. It was a fab week – it’s like having a bunch of mates come over to stay.

The snow has been fab (not that I’ve been able to enjoy it). It dumped again later in Jan and has dropped a fair bit during Feb as well. There’s currently nearly 1m on the ground in town, over 2m at 2000m and about 3m up high. I don’t expect any sympathy, but I haven’t skied for 6-7 weeks. With a full chalet, all the stuff happening down south, a trip back to the UK in Jan, plus a couple of other things taking up my time, I haven’t had a spare moment for weeks. It’s nuts!

The last couple of weeks have been even more hectic than usual. Sally was sick for a few days early in Feb, meaning I was on chief chalet bitch duty – cooking/cleaning on top of my usual stuff. Then her grandpa passed away, so she’s been in the UK for the last 10 days. It’s been absolutely knackering – I enjoy cooking and it’s nice to do it for a change. But it involves an extra few hours a day that I would otherwise use for other balls I’m juggling, which has meant other stuff has fallen by the wayside (e.g. posting up a new Tinker’s tales). But hey-ho, c’est la vie. She’s back tomorrow and it can’t come soon enough…

Donc voilà. There’s a bit of news from this part of the world. I hope things are well wherever you are. I’m heading back to the south later this week for a few days. When I get back to Chamonix, it’ll already be March. That’s amazing – this winter is hurtling by. It won’t be long before the snows start melting and we see our first spring days. I can’t wait – I love the summer here.

Talking of which, do check out all the summer stuff we have on offer here – fab activity trips including mountain biking, rafting, canyoning, hiking, paragliding and much MUCH more. Plus ‘Les Beaux Terroirs’ will be open for self-catered bookings from the start of July – offering lazy days in the sun by the pool, action such as canoe/kayak trips down the nearby Ardeche Gorges or visits to wonderful wine producers and beautiful places like Avignon. Take your pick and come see us this summer.

Happy tinkering…

Sam

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21 November 04: Brrrrrrr… it’s cold out here

Not quite sure if that’s the right way to write a cold, shivering sound, but I’m sure you get the gist. It’s been brass monkeys here for the last week or two, with overnight temps down as low as -8. Fortunately, we’ve had some snow as well – it was a bit overdue, ‘cos the mountains had been more or less bare below 2500m beforehand. It dropped a good 30cm or so overnight on Thu 18 Nov and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a couple more falls like that in the next fortnight. That should give us a nice base to build on for the season.

I’ve heard a couple of old wives’ stories from separate sources around town, both claiming that we’re in line for a vintage season (though I can’t remember what they based it on). You might think “He would say that, wouldn’t he?” But it’s the honest truth. As to whether there’s anything in those stories, who the hell knows – I’m as cynical as the next man about superstitious poppycock. But if they’re right, I’ll be a happy bunny and so will you be!

Since our last despatch on 10 Oct, we’ve been enjoying having the town to ourselves. Chamonix stays lovely and quiet during the autumn – something I can’t quite understand. The colours on the trees are beautiful, as they change from green through yellow to orange and red. The summits are covered in more snow and you often get beautiful clear, crisp, sunny days – perfect for getting out and walking around the valley, before retiring to a cosy bar or restaurant to warm up again. Without hordes of tourists around, everything is much more relaxed.

I popped back to the UK again in mid-Oct for yet another bloody wedding and for my godson’s first birthday (having stocked up with French baby clothes for him). Took the opportunity to visit the London Ski Show on Fri 15 Oct – for us lot, it’s less a question of seeing what’s going on there, more a question of getting pissed with our mates from Chamonix…

After nipping over to Spain to visit the young lady again, I’ve been back in France for nearly a month now. I’ve spent much of that time down south, where I’m buying a new place near Avignon…

It's a big old spread that needs extensive renovation work to divide it into 2 cottages and 2 apartments (plus installing a pool), available for self-catered lets next summer. Work should kick off at the start of Jan, ready for guests in July 2005. It's in a little village called St André de Roquepertuis - 30 mins from the amazing Ardèche Gorges (kayaktastic), 45 mins from Avignon and Orange, 1 hr from Nimes. It's in the heart of Rhone wine territory (e.g. just over 30 mins to Chateauneuf-du-Pape) and surrounded by zillions of other vineyards - quelle surprise...

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on progress – I’ll be launching a new website for it shortly and we’ll be taking summer 2005 bookings from the start of Dec.

Fingers crossed for some more snow and here’s to a great season.

Adios - Sam