The temperature gauge on my car hasn’t been above 5 degrees all weekend, the snow that fell last week on the top of Saulire is still there, I slipped on my first frozen patch of pavement for the season in Val d’Isere last week… Winter is definitely on its way! We have more snow forecast for this week, and with these low temperatures things are looking up for the winter…

We still have some availability in our Val d’Isere chalets for 10th December - grab a week skiing and escape the Christmas madness that closes in on the UK in December… Tempted?  Chalet Santons Solaise (sleeps 6) for £535 per person with the award winning cuisine and fantastic F&P service you can’t go wrong.  Check out www.fishandpips.co.uk for more details.

Come and play in the snow!

Clare x

One of the toughest parts of mine and Philippa’s job is having highly skilled chefs coming and cooking two delicious courses for us almost everyday at the moment. 

We are on the usual quest to find our last remaining chef to complete our team - this seems to happen to us every year as we are simply far too fussy! 

Chef Mystery X we can’t wait to have you signed up, but in the meantime we’ll just have to put up with all this fine-dining at home

Holly x

We are all hoping for a bumper snow season this year, but we need the snow when the lifts are open!!  Meribel woke up to a snow covered valley on Sunday morning this weekend.  What does this mean? I have read rumours of the sun’s radiation diminishing, the great yellow gentians (alpine flowers) having been particularly tall this year - predicting a harsh winter ahead, Northern hemisphere winters following the trends of the Southern hemisphere - which have been rather snowy I hear.  Are these all old wives tales? Based on real science?  Who really knows?  All I know is that the valley looked stunning when the sun came out, reminding me of why we all love this place so much. Bring on more snow and first lifts on December 3rd! Here are some pictures of our Meribel Chalets shining in the sunshine and snow…

Clare x

If you are looking for a future husband / wife then it is definitely worth spending a year in the Alps.  I can’t count the number of our friends who have met over a toffee vodka on a snowy evening - and several years later we are sitting in a church watching them say ‘I do’.

One of our favourite of these couples - Vix and Ed, did exactly that at the beginning of September and we were thrilled to have been there to witness it.   What a fantastic day, thank you so much for including us and we wish you lots of very very happy years ahead Mr and Mrs Gelling!

With a team comprising of many a Meribel face, Alderney certainly feels like home-from-home for most working at The Georgian this summer.

We have some of the F&P team from last winter (Kev, Rhys, Judy and Dan), our local Meribel Village bar manager from the LDV (Hamish), and three lovely ladies (Daisy, Jenny and Kate) from other renowned Meribel chalet companies.  Oh and we can’t forget Mr Marmalade himself! It’s kind of like Meribel but by the sea - it’s small, safe, friendly and everyone likes a good tipple - even Bring Your Sister made an appearance along with some toffee vodka! 

We have been completely spoilt with numerous visits from Alpine friends….

F&P repeatedly repeat guest and now dear friend, Matt Draper, came to support us for our opening in May and we soon had him in a Georgian House shirt helping on the restaurant floor!  As ever he was a star and unstoppable.  He has since returned but this time spending many a day on Braye beach with Philippa keeping her and bump company, and generally being a great source of entertainment! 

Gill and Michael Bunce were next.  They came over for 3 days or variable weather should we say!  Although they didn’t get to see Alderney at its best, they managed to escape busy London living giving them the chance to relax….until they got stuck at the airport for hours due to fog that is! Oops.

Team Ellis (Chalet Le Christophe family) from Dorking arrived for a few days in July - they got stuck-in to the laid-back Alderney way from the moment they landed with plenty of al fresco eating (in fact they ate every single meal outside other than the epic taster menu the chefs whipped up) and most of their time spent on the beautiful Saye beach. 

Bring Your Sisters and Joey rocked up mid-August having driven across France in their van and then taken the Lady Maris boat to Alderney from Cherbourg with all their equipment aboard!   They took Alderney by storm playing 3 gigs - two at The Georgian and one wedding.  They made our August and have themselves plenty more groupies.  Despite working them to the bone, they thoroughly enjoy their time on Alderney and have vowed to return next summer :) 

More Meribel Village friends and ex-F&Pers pitched up for BYS and Hamish’s birthday weekend.  Photographic evidence and the sore heads that came to work that weekend suggests they had a good time, but didn’t get to see them as they were out partying ’til the early hours!

Last but definitely not least…Rick and Lisa from (Chalet L’Ours owners)  tipped up late August for when the madness had subsided to enjoy a few days exploring the island by bike, relaxing, eating and of course drinking.

Thank you all who visited us this summer on the rock - it was always something to look forward to, great fun and made us feel loved!

So you have been inundated with pictures of Meribel this summer, largely because that is what lies beyond my front door and is a huge source of inspiration!  I went over to Val d’Isere on Wednesday to see what is going on over there and it all seems pretty busy.  Lots of bikers making their way to the Col de l’Iseran, hikers, climbers and all sorts.  I took a few photos from the road leading up to the Col, sadly the clouds were coming in but it is still an impressive sight!

Clare  x

Last week I went on a bit of an adventure… Seems to be a theme of the summer!  I went to do the Saulire Via Ferrata.  I have done these before, but not one on such an iconic peak.  Having looked up at Saulire for the best part of 5 years I had never thought it possible to get right to the very top!

Via Ferrata is an Italian invention, created during World War 1 to scale the peaks of the Dolomites at a quicker pace than enemy forces.  Literally meaning iron routes, the rungs and hand holds drilled into the rock face have become a popular summertime pursuit here in Savoie.  They vary hugely from tame routes around the side of a lake to ones taking you to the top of one of the most impressive peaks in the Three Valleys.  So much fun!!

Whilst I was up there it was a good opportunity to check out the new lift which is coming on nicely.  After 25 or so years La Société des 3 Vallées has decided it is time for a new Saulire lift.  The top section will be ready for this season 2011-2012 and the first stage will be completed for the start of the 2013 season.  It will take just 12 mintutes to get to the top once finished, a vast improvement on the 25 minutes it currently takes.  On the way down from the Via Ferrata we checked out the site of the new mid station and saw some of the pylons that will be holding us up in the air when the lift is complete.  Good news for our Fish and Pips Meribel guests - hopefully you can now squeeze an extra few runs in with all the time you save on the new lift!  Here are some photos of the adventures…

Clare  x

Holly and I were very excited last week.   Not only were we going to have a catch up having not seen each other for a few weeks (she being in Alderney and me in Devon) - we were heading to Meribel to watch an old friend say ‘I do’!

It was a flying visit, lots of catching up for the girls - climbing and golf for the boys culminating in Mischa and Jamie’s fantastic wedding.  The bride looked radiant, the groom VERY chuffed (Del looked frightened when Holly caught the bouquet!) and we danced the night away to Bring Your Sisters.  A truly lovely few days - thank you to Mischa, Jamie and all their family.

Px

Vélo Tout Terrain - The Mountain Bike.  If you think skiing is scary, you have seen nothing until you have watched these competitors battle it out for the title of French Mountain Biking Champion!  The competitors come from all over France to compete in the various events, downhill, cross country, 4x and Trials (basically BMX bikes with no saddles hopping between giant rocks and wooden ramps - see the photos!).

Having walked the entire length of the downhill course I have decided that these guys are insane - throwing themselves down a mountain on a piece of metal with no snow to cushion the falls - and they do fall - I think they need their heads examining. They complete the course in around 4 minutes, and the best part is that the men, women and juniors all ride the same course - pretty hardcore for the girls! Running from the top of Plan de l’Homme all the way to the Chaudanne the course covers open ground, some pretty tight tree runs and finishes off on the Stade piste to cross the finish line.

Meribel has been far from quiet recently, with all sorts of events going on I can highly recommend a trip out here, even in the summer!  Here are some pictures of the weekend’s events and some views from the top of Tougnete - very green!

Clare   x

When the call came to ask me to make some treats for Granny’s surprise 90th birthday party the first place I turned was my F&P cookbook!  Spoff’s brownie recipe saved the day and after swapping nuts for broken digestives (one nut allergy sister and a room of 40 octo and nonogenarians!) the delicious gooey treats went down very well!

Px