A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Justine Picardie takes to the verdant slopes of Mont Blanc to experience the Alps in glorious summertime
An ardent reader can fall in love with a place long before ever travelling there; and so it was with me, and my fantasy of an Alpine summer. As a child, I had dreamt of joining Heidi in the flower-clad meadows that surrounded her grandfather’s mountain cabin, an idyll where ‘she drank in the golden sunlight, the fresh air… and wished for nothing better than to remain there forever.’ In time, when I came to study the Romantic poets as an undergraduate, Lord Byron appeared beside Heidi in the landscape of my imagination, with his vision of grandeur: ‘Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains:/ They crowned him long ago/On a throne of rocks in a robe of clouds –/With a diadem of snow…’ Byron’s contemporary, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who journeyed with him on a pilgrimage to the Alps in the summer of 1816, was similarly inspired (‘Far, far above, piercing the infinite sky,/Mont Blanc appears, – still, snowy, and serene…’). So, too, was Shelley’s wife Mary, who set key scenes of her novel Frankenstein against the majestic backdrop of this, the highest mountain in Europe.
It took me several decades to discover this dramatic terrain for myself, accompanied by my husband (a rather more lovable travelling companion than Frankenstein’s monster, and less prone to melodrama than Lord Byron). True, Philip initially thought that my desire to go to the Alps in August was somewhat perverse, given his penchant for skiing and winter sports. But as soon as we arrived in Megève, a resort originally conceived as a French alternative to St Moritz by the Rothschild family in the 1920s, its allure became apparent to both of us. We were staying at the new Four Seasons, just above the town, nestled on the slopes of Mont d’Arbois. Despite its recent construction the hotel already looks well-established, thanks to a softly weathered timber cladding, and welcoming interiors that display a remarkable art collection (courtesy of the owners, descendants of Baroness Noémie de Rothschild, who first discovered Megève just after World War I).
Such are the delights of the Four Seasons, with its sybaritic pool, superb spa, and exceptional restaurants (not to mention one of the best wine cellars in France), that it would be easy to stay put, and simply enjoy the views from the terrace. But Mont Blanc beckoned, and a footpath leads directly from the hotel to a spectacular vantage
point of its peaks. If Heidi could scramble up precipitous crags as a little girl, then surely I could do the same?
Several hours of strenuous hiking later, with frequent pauses to catch my breath, I was as impressed by Heidi’s courage as I had been in childhood; but the view of Mont Blanc was more spectacular than anything I had previously imagined, even grander than its appearance in Romantic poetry. At the summit of Mont D’Arbois, the air was crystalline, the sky as blue as the wild gentians in the meadows below, and beyond, the sunlight sparkling on the snow-capped heights.
We were blessed with clear skies for most of our time in the Alps, discovering new vistas and a sense of immense peace. Thanks to the concierge at our second hotel, Les Fermes de Marie, who provided maps and expert advice on cable cars, we ventured further into the mountains than would have been possible entirely on foot; and everywhere we went was blissfully free of crowds. Megève certainly isn’t empty in the summer months – both the Four Seasons and Les Fermes de Marie were filled with convivial family gatherings as well as solitary hikers – but as soon as you leave the pretty little town, it is possible to walk for hours without encountering another soul.
There is much to be said for doing as we did, and trying out each hotel: the Four Seasons is 10 minutes’ drive from Megève (or an exhilarating ride by bicycle, as we discovered one day), while Les Fermes de Marie is closer to the town centre, yet still very quiet and surrounded by several acres of beautifully tended gardens. A grown-up Heidi would feel perfectly at home in each property, though Les Fermes de Marie is more traditional, a small hamlet of rustic wooden chalets, built out of reclaimed barns, with a central dining-room warmed by a big log fire, where delicious local dishes are accompanied by bonhomie and abundant good cheer.
But above all, it is the mountains that make Megève so magical; and in my mind’s eye, they are already urging me to return…
Four Seasons Hotel Megève, from £550 a room a night (www.fourseasons. com/megeve). Les Fermes de Marie, from £290 a room a night B&B (www.fermesdemarie.com).