About the location
The luxury French cookery school and chalet is run by experienced and welcoming hosts Steve and Lindsay and set in the beautiful French Alps. Both ex-restaurateurs, and Steve a former head chef, they were so inspired by a cookery holiday they took with GoLearnTo.com they decided to start running their own luxury cooking weekends!
Steve and Lindsay designed and built their chalet specifically to provide luxury cooking weekends. The result is a blissful and contemporary environment with excellent cooking and teaching facilities. With beautiful fittings and furnishings, these luxury extras make it feel more like a boutique hotel than a mountain chalet.
Spacious, relaxing and homely (with plenty of Savoyard charm), the chalet consists of ensuite rooms, each with either a bath or roomy double shower. All rooms come with hotel-quality beds, Egyptian cotton sheets and super-soft bath robes and towels. Bedrooms also have French doors which open out onto a private terrace or patio where guests can sit out and gaze at the panoramic views of Mont Chery and the Portes Du Soleil expanse.
Downstairs, a large modern kitchen area provides ample preparation space to comfortably create a selection of mouth-watering dishes. There is also a spacious dining area and alfresco seating, a games and cinema room and laptops. Guests can also sit back, soak and look out at the mountains from the chalet's hot tub.
With tea and coffee-making facilities, toiletries, hairdryers, an extra fluffy towel for the hot tub and even a British plug socket provided in the rooms, Lindsay and Steve have thought of everything in order to make the chalet as relaxing and special as possible.
Between them, Steve and Lindsay have years of experience as restaurateurs, hosts and chefs. Steve escaped the corporate world in 2003 and together with Lindsay set up a vibrant restaurant in Eltham, Kent. Their radical transition was profiled in Channel 4’s series Risking It All, however, their venture turned out to be little of a gamble. They made a huge success of the contemporary restaurant, where Steve worked as head chef, before selling up to renovate and run a catered gîte in Charente, Cognac.
From there, they brought all their cooking and hosting experience to their cookery school and chalet in Montriand where Lindsay is able to share her passion for desserts and Steve, who trained commis and sous-chefs in his own restaurant, is a natural at teaching what he loves.
Surrounded by stunning scenery, the French cooking weekend is located in the idyllic area of Montriond, a charming village nestled amid pine forests and is just 1 hour 20 minutes from Geneva airport.
Although more commonly enjoyed in winter, this area of the Haut-Savoie is alive and beautiful in summer when the blanket of snow melts away and the mountains take on a whole new identity. The luscious greens hills and the pinks and reds of wild flowers contrast against sparkling white peaks, the temperature averages around 20 degrees and the mountain air feels fresher than ever.
The area of Montriond offers brilliant opportunities for hikers and mountain bikers and is just five minutes' drive from the pretty market town of Morzine, where many residents still travel by horse and cart. Steve and Lindsay are happy to drop guests in Morzine over the weekend so they can explore its unique charm, relaxed atmosphere and range of activities.
The huge and picturesque Lake Montriond is also close and reachable in 20 minutes along a pleasant river trail. The sleepy Savoy village of Samoëns, the spa town of Evian and Les Lindaret, where goats roam free in the village during the summer months, are also nearby.
Features
- Luxury ensuite accommodation with a boutique-hotel feel that is specifically built and designed to provide top-class cooking weekends
- Rooms feature hotel-quality beds, Egyptian cotton linen, slippers and fluffy bathrobes
- Just one hour 20 minutes from Geneva airport
- Set in a tranquil setting amid breathtaking mountain scenery
- Hosts are warm, friendly and patient teachers with years of experience as restaurateurs
- Rooms have terraces or balconies with panoramic views across the mountains
- Modern and spacious teaching environment with excellent equipment and cooking utensils
- Relaxing hot tub
- Just a five-minute drive from the traditional and charming town of Morzine
- All food and drinks are included
- Airport transfers available on request for an extra cost
- Fresh mountain air and sunny climes