Now I've Found Vaujany
Choosing the right late season ski resort is as difficult as selecting one just before or over Christmas, another time when snow cover can be poor. Generally it is important to aim high for guaranteed snow but may skiers, like me, prefer to stay in chalets in quiet authentic atmospheric alpine villages rather than the unattractive purpose built complexes associated with some higher resorts.

Now I've found the answer - Vaujany in the French Dauphine Alps. It's only 90 minutes drive from Grenoble Airport and has direct access to a large high altitude ski area.

Add to this one of the best creche facilities in Europe, an ice skating rink, superb swimming and spa facilities and a good range of well renovated hotels, chalets and self catering apartments and Vaujany is ideal for Easter or any family skiing holiday.

	So how did this once poverty stricken rural village afford all this, let alone one of the biggest and fastest cable cars ever built linking it to the vast ski area of Alpe d'Huez, which has about 90 ski lifts, 144 miles of groomed pistes suiting all abilities, easy access to magnificent glacial off-piste skiing and no fewer than 700 artificial snow cannons to provide extra cover if required?

It happened quite by chance. In the eighties Vaujany was targeted by the French government for one of its largest hydro-electric schemes. The millions of francs paid to locals in compensation for barren land they would never miss allowed this degenerating farming community to put their heads and windfalls together and create a charming and dynamic winter sports destination.

British skier and businessman Nigel Purkhardt spotted Vaujany's potential early. Some 16 years ago his company Ski Peak, took the first British ski clients to this sleepy village and earlier this year I was given a tour of the run down vicarage they stayed in that season and ran as a chalet. The centuries old gravestones outside the bedroom windows did not deter him or his clients from coming back year after year and bit by bit the operation grew in stature along with the entire community as it started to spend its new found wealth. Ski Peak has returned the vicarage to the lovely ancient church. It now offers a charming two star hotel called Le Rissiou, three fully catered chalets in the nearby satellite hamlet of La Villette, a batch of spacious highly specified self catering apartments and its own beautifully built Chalet Saskia is perched on the edge of a wooded meadow only three minutes walk from the main cable car.

Such is the tranquil natural setting of Saskia situated on the lower levels of this hillside village that one morning, from my balcony, while admiring the mountain views in the dawn light, I saw three deer calmly picking their way through the snow on the edge of the woods.. The chalet sleeps 26 in comfortable en-suite bedrooms and boasts a games room and large sun deck surrounding the spacious open plan lounge and dining areas.

Says Purkhardt; "One of the best things about Vaujany is the creche facility, and for extra security we provide our own English speaking nanny to the resort creche".

Dinner provided another reason to come to Vaujany. Saskia chef Marcus Cull from New Zealand stunned us all with a display of haute cuisine. Marcus's concept of pre-starters and pre-cheese courses delighted. Samples of these extra courses included pan fried scallops with black pudding on apple gallette with mustard beurre blanc, poached oyster soup, ginger prawn mousse ravioli and snow peas.

Parents of children under twelve will be relieved to know that Marcus is willing and able to serve up such modesties as lasagne or burgers and chips and he won't make you get on your knees for ketchup! Reasons for coming to Vaujany seem to be queueing up.

The mountain restaurants on the ski runs back to Vaujany and some of the picturesque lunch spots serving fine fare throughout the Alpe d'Huez ski network also impressed. A couple of my favourites included Chalet di Lac Besson and Foret de Maronne but, owing largely to the entertainment of watching gliders and small planes taking off and landing on skis from the snow plateau, the Restaurant de l'Altiport won my vote.

Vaujany is the perfect destination for an alpine activity holiday being a peaceful mountain village with stunning scenery providing a range of facilities that will appeal to families and individuals alike. 

NEW NEW NEW View our Video

The extent and variety of well groomed pistes will keep all standards of skier happy for a week and these include some of the longest runs in the world, one starting from the point of Pic Blanc at 11,000ft gives a massive overall vertical drop of 7,500ft all the way to the hamlet of L'Enversin d'Oz, from where you return to Vaujany by ski lift. Skiers with a taste for the back country will be exhilarated by the easily accessed off piste terrain.

All of it, especially the glacial itineraries, must be tackled with a professional guide. Ours, Anthony Franklin, led us to some superb open powder slopes with options of narrow gulleys from the top of the Sarenne glacier. We ended up in a gorge requiring a helicopter lift back to the lift network.

Being a younger and more open minded guide, Anthony also won our hearts by producing a fine salami and cheese picnic complete with wine after some mouth watering skiing on our blue sky day.

The swimming pool and sports complex has a 25m swimming pool with water slide, sports hall, gymnasium, sauna and steam room. Vaujany's 160-person cable car runs six times a day during July and August giving access at the first station to spectacular walks and mountain-biking beside lakes and meadows brimming with wild flowers or higher up where there is often snow still lying at 2800metres. 

Down in the village there is a wonderful tennis club where, having trounced the competition, you can relax drink in hand on the terrace, take your lunch under the parasols and let your children enjoy the playground. If you feel adventurous this is the place to sign up for your first tandem paragliding flight. 

Vaujany also has a superb day nursery taking children from 6 months to 5 years old inclusive and an excellent children's activity club offering all the local activities from rock climbing on the artificial climbing wall to archery up at the tennis club. 

Within an hours drive there is also boating, river rafting, canoeing and mountaineering in the Parc des Ecrins. The possibilities are endless and you will never feel a lack of space. You will feast on the delicious mountain air and sensational blue skies.

During the summer months between May and September we have our lovely chalets in La Villette available on a self-catering basis and our award winning Chalet Saskia is open in July and August when Marcus is there to spoil you with some of the most imaginative and beautifully presented cuisine you could wish for anywhere.

Click on either of the links at the top of this page to visit our summer and winter web sites. To visit the ski site you will need to have the Flash plug-in installed. If you do not have this you can download it using one of the two links on this page.