Chalet Isère

Chalet Isère looks up at the cliffs above Val d'Isère from the snowy slope of Le Châtelard, a timber and stone house with a soft, almost silvery interior. The first surprise is in the hall: a glass wall opens onto an indoor pool, watched over by a white panther statue.

The rooms are panelled in bleached wood and furnished in greys, creams and fur. The living room has a fire, deep sofas and shelves of books under pale beams, and the dining table seats ten beneath a single black drum light. As a luxury chalet rental in Val d'Isère, it has a calm, considered feel rather than a flashy one.

Chalet Isère sleeps ten guests in six bedrooms, each with a king bed, and has five bathrooms. The bathrooms are lovely, in black stone with pebble floors, and in one room the bath sits behind louvred screens so it feels part of the suite. Attic rooms under the beams are cosy, and two connected bedrooms work well for children.

Downstairs there's the pool with its stone column, a cinema room with big grey sofas, a massage room and a proper ski room with boot lockers. Le Châtelard is a quiet corner of the resort, and the village life of the French Alps is never far off. It suits a family or a couple of families on a ski week who want to come home to a swim.