GETTING THERE

‘THIS SKI resort is for people who l i k e t o t a k e their time on holiday, who don’t want to speed through the day.” Most ski resorts would balk at this description, but Thierry Durand, director of the reservations company which promotes Valloire in south-east France, embraces the resort’s cosy nature.

Unlike so many marketing descriptions, this rang true. Valloire may have originally been named Vallée d’Or after its fields of golden grain, but has ended up as a healthy antidote to other resorts’ après-ski decadence.

The nightlife is genteel and centred on restaurants, not clubs or bars. French-speaking families, older couples and groups of schoolchildren populate the streets, rather than the PACKAGE Crystal Ski Holidays offers a week’s half-board at 3-star Grand Hotel Valloire from £935 and Hotel Christiania from £953 or at 2-star Hotel de la Poste from £717. Prices are per person based on two sharing and include a sixday lift pass, flights from Gatwick to Chambery and transfers (for departure on March 12). Direct flights are available from all major UK airports. crystalski.co.uk. Tel: 020 8939 0726 hordes of British 20-somethings found at many ski centres.

The Grand Hotel where I stayed was 30 seconds from the slopes and ski shop.

The hotel was perfectly comfortable with a lovely breakfast buffet, but the slopes were the main attraction.

Tremendous views are a given in the Alps, but the sheer variety among the resort’s 85 slopes was special, with something for everyone. There were enough ski moguls (bumps), jumps and thick off-piste powder to keep advanced skiers happy — and even the odd unexpected herd of donkeys.

Then there are the cheeses. When lunch rolls around, pay a visit to L’Alp de Zélie, a wooden ski lodge with a fabulous view of the scenery.

The starters were interesting mixes of sweet and sharp flavours — blue cheese with apples and tomatoes, for instance — but the next course was to die for.

Melted cheese wrapped in a fried pancake sat under ice cream, with honey-infused whipped cream on the side.

A bed of salad, balsamic vinegar and pine nuts completed the full and challenging taste experience.

We were then brought mini pistachio cakes and biscuits. The only risk associated with eating here is that you might not be able to return to the slopes, due to a food coma.

And as our ski instructor said, we had come at the right time. Though the ski season lasts from mid-December until mid-April, coming in January is cheaper and the slopes are emptier — not that