Thrills on a massif scale
The French resort of Megève is just as much fun in the summertime, discovers
MEGÈVE may be renowned for its world-class skiing, but in summer it has just as much to offer with hundreds of hiking and biking trails set amid lush mountain scenery.
My son Jack, 9, and I are staying at the characterful Les Fermes de Marie. The 70-room hotel is a clutch of interconnected, centuries-old farmhouses relocated here piece by piece in 1989 by the property’s owners, the Sibuet family. It is effortlessly chic with fur throws, sheepskins and cow hides draped over old leather sofas with antlers and weatherworn timber beams in the lobby.
While I head to the spa for a soothing massage, Jack enjoys the complimentary kid’s club. He’s soon met Margo and they are learning magic tricks from a fully fledged clown, albeit in broken English.
We split our stay with their sister property, the 49-room Lodge Park Hotel. Resembling a chic hunting lodge with its stone fireplace, wood floors and heavy beamed bar where imbibers sit around birch-log tables sipping cocktails by the open fire. A short stroll from the hotel is the pedestrianised, quintessentially French village at the heart of Megève whose cobblestone town square is dominated by a 14th-century church.
There are high-end boutiques and nearby stone footbridges which span a babbling river. Jaunty horse-drawn Calèche (carriages) cluster in the square and kids play boules, their parents idling outside the chocolaterie sipping café crème. Five minutes walk uphill on the Route du Jaillet we discover the Jaillet chairlift and a poster beckons us to come up and try out the summer luge.
While I normally have no need for speed, sometimes the high altitude does weird things to you. We are soon on the chairlift, our luges hooked onto the back. At the top we are given basic instructions. Essentially the plastic luge has 4 wheels with rubber brakes. To launch you pull up the brake lever, releasing the brakes and freeing the wheels. To slow down you simply push back on the lever. “Got it,” hastens Jack and hurtles away on his red sled.
On another day, we are collected by a Land Rover which clambers over craggy hills carpeted in lush pasture, past weathered wooden cabins frothing with geraniums. It’s like a scene out of Hansel And Gretel, Heidi and The Sound Of Music all rolled into one.
We arrive at Alpage des Fermes de Marie, a remote, private chalet seating 20 where we tuck into quiches, pâtés and local cheeses next to the open fire in the snug, beamed dining room.
Outside, framed against the Mont Charvin peaks, a ruddyfaced chef grills huge slabs of meat. The steaks comes out in shifts, each accompanied by a delicious potato gratin.
Afterwards Jack and I join a gaggle of 10 diners who decide to ditch the 4WD in favour of a bracing hour-long hike down instead. As the sounds of the accordion player and raucous post-Génépi (liqueur) laughter drift away behind us we chatter like old friends, pausing to stroke the heads of dairy cows hung with huge clanging bells.
Scooping water from a sparkling glacial ravine the sun suddenly shifts, the ochre peaks drenched in honey light. Djinn, my newfound friend, links her arm in mine. “Formidable!” she says. This is laid-back Megève at its summertime best.
THE KNOWLEDGE
easyJet (0330 365 5000/easyjet. com) offers return flights from Southend to Geneva from £40. Les Fermes de Marie (dialling from the UK: 00 33 4 50 93 03 10/ en.fermesdemarie.com) offers doubles from £165, room only. Lodge Park (93 05 03/ en.lodgepark.com) offers doubles from £125, room only. Bureau des Guides Tours (guides-megeve.com) offers hiking, biking, canyoning, caving, fishing and paragliding. Megeve tourism: megeve.com