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A stay at Arc 1950 Le Village (arc1950.com) costs from £1,046 for seven nights self-catering in a five-star Residence (based on 2 adults and 2 children, departs March 23, accommodation only). Activity tickets such as Mille8 leisure centre, the igloo village and sledging can be booked at lesarcs. com. Ski Lessons from evolution2-lesarcs.com) were many terrible moments – such as the morning I chose to walk down a slippery slope rather than ski down it, the obligatory fall from the chairlift and the out-ofcontrol descent through a group of tiny children at ski school. And there were many other times where I was close to taking off my skis and hurling them off the mountainside.

But Vanessa got me down slopes I didn’t ever think were possible. She helped me by breaking each section down bit by bit, mapping a path and taking it slowly. She continuously made me look back at the slope on reaching the bottom so it looked steeper than it felt coming down, which gave me the confidence to try steeper runs. She worked out my limits and gently pushed them, but I never felt uncomfortable. She wasn’t afraid not to ski, either – she took me up to the highest point in the region, where we mutually decided it was in everybody’s best interests to get the cable car back down.

My breakthrough moment took place on the penultimate morning, when I was out with my eldest daughter in another white-out. The visibility on the mountain was severely reduced, owing to fog, and I was unable to see more than 10m ahead. I managed to misjudge my turn and went over the mountainside, hurtled down towards the mountain bowl and ended up – once again – in a heap of fresh snow. But what a difference a year makes. My instant response was to laugh, not cry, and at that moment I suddenly realised that skiing was an adventure I once again wanted to be part of, that it was fun – even the falling over bit.

That lunchtime, we celebrated at mountainside restaurant Le Chalets de l’Arc and shared a huge fondue by the side of an ancient fireplace. As I sipped from a glass of the local Savoie wine, I realised I was not only exhilarated, but relaxed. I was actually looking forward to getting my skis back on.

But whatever my ski day had been like, Arc 1950 made coming back each evening so delightful that I couldn’t fail to smile. Our hotel apartment meant we had the best of both worlds: some evenings, we stayed in, sitting in front of a roaring fire playing card games and eating bowls of pasta. On other nights, we ate out at one of the many and varied restaurants in the village: there are Savoie-style restaurants a-plenty, with La Table Des Lys providing a true French gastronomic experience of Michelin-star standards. (The kids, however, preferred the pizza at La Vache Rouge…)

The success or failure of any family holiday is always how happy your children are. In Arc

1950, there is a festival atmosphere and an irresistibly joyous welcome. (Kids are even

Whatever my ski day had been like, coming back to Arc 1950 was so delightful that I couldn’t fail to smile