Smitten with La Chapelle d’Abondance, the people and lifestyle, Matthew and Emma Billings decided to relocate from the UK and set up a new home and business – skibikeorhike.com offering visitors a luxury catered chalet in the French Alps with all the mod cons.
Chalet Le Dragon, is the perfect set up for their new business venture, comprising two chalets – one for separate family accommodation. Chalet Le Dragon is nestled between two villages at 1020m, Chatel and La Chapelle d’Abondance, both only minutes away from the Portes du Soleil and offering visitors a choice of bars, quality restaurants, cafes and shops. With Geneva airport just over 1.5 hour away, visitors can travel and hit the piste on the same day!
Well, we did it and are now looking forward to our upcoming winter season. It wasn’t without its problems though!
We left our home in England very early one misty morning in October. Our large people carrier (or so we thought) was laden with the remnants of 13 years in England. Our furniture and what seemed like 500 huge brown boxes of possessions were despatched to La Chapelle d’Abondance in an enormous lorry earlier on in the week. That morning we packed up what was left behind (including 3 rather noisy children) and what remained could easily have filled another lorry!
When we had finally finished cramming in shoes, clothes and numerous toys we set off to Dover, not being able to see out of the rear window and with childrens’ feet kicking our backs! The darlings!
After a short ferry crossing, an overnight stay and a very long journey through France we arrived at our new home. It was bigger than we remembered and we spent 2 very excited hours showing the boys their new chalet. They seemed to like it but were very concerned how ‘to speak French’! They weren’t the only ones!
We have got by though. Remembering our GCSE French came quite naturally but we soon realised that there was a lot more to this adventure than just knowing how to ask “Ou est la gare?!”
Now, with the winter season fast approaching, we have had time to look back and reflect on what we have done. This past year, from early January onwards, has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. We have experienced a multitude of both exciting and heart-breaking times and there have been moments when we never thought we would get here. But we have and are loving our new lifestyle change!
At Chalet Le Dragon, guests can choose catered accommodation in winter and B&B in summer, so ideal for groups, couples or families. The chalet offers traditional yet stylish, cosy and comfortable accommodation with each room furnished to a high specification. If you are travelling with children, rooms can be altered to add beds or cots. Guests can make the most of each day outdoors, enjoying the huge range of activities the area has to offer knowing that an excellent hearty meal with complimentary wine and beer is served each evening. After which the choice is yours, simply relax in the cosy lounge, snug or by the fire to play board games or just enjoy the company of others to share stories from the day’s events.
Want to find out more about the area, activities and accommodation, then e-mail contact@SkiBikeorHike.com, visit www.SkiBikeorHike.com
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