GreenMountainChalets

So, there's a lot of snow. Now it's playtime....

2012-01-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

A philosophy we like to live by...

In this months blog:

Availability, Special offers, Short breaks
Chalet L'Orcieres - there's a bargain to be had
TripAdvisor
Christmas/New Year fun and games
Stats

Availability, Special offers, Short breaks

It's that time of year again, the busy festive period has passed, the snow has well and truly fallen and people are trying to organise their diaries to see when and where they can fit in a last minute break.

To help you here's a list of our availability and new prices:

4th February - Reduced to £400pp - 9 rooms available

Not only has the snow fallen but the
sun is shining...

3rd March - Reduced to £400pp - 4 rooms available

24th March - Reduced to £500pp - 6 rooms available

Short breaks & long weekends are priced at £75pppn. Scan the net for bargain flights and get in touch with your dates.

Full details are available here - http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/prices.htm

Chalet L'Orcieres - there's a bargain to be had

March has gone mental, we are almost full in La Maison (see above) and things are starting to fill up nicely in L'Orcieres. To celebrate we've decided to discount all remaining weeks in Chalet L'Orcieres by £50pp!!

L'Orcieres is our luxury chalet with a sauna, queen sized beds, huge master bedroom, large family bedrooms and stunning mountain views from each room. Check out the pictures for a better idea.

TripAdvisor

The reviews keep coming, we've had two new ones recently. Thats 23 (yes TWENTY THREE) five star reviews we have now. And you can read them here - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

Christmas/New Year fun and games

Whats the biggest snowball fight you've ever been involved in? Have you ever skied with a man dressed as a banana? Have you ever had breakfast and evening meal with someone who wore a tiger costume to every meal that week?

We had a fun, eventful and busy festive period at GMC, lots of characters, lots of fun on the slopes and a few cheeky drinks...

See the video below for some footage of GMC v The chalet next door epic snowball fight, the cry of "Kill Them" right at the start of the video was an indicator of just how seriously it was being taken...

53 MPH max speed and over 25k skied
in a day...

Stats

Isn't technology wonderful...? Owners of an iPhone can now download an ap called 'Ski Tracks' that allows you to track your days activity on your phone along with a whole host of stats to compare with fellow guests around the dinner table in the evening. Some competitive types see this as an opportunity to see who has gone the fastest, skied the furthest or reached the highest. We just think it's damn good fun so we've set up an album on our Facebook page for guests to save their stats to here - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150486482884296.367725.89729754295&type=3

Thats all for now!!

Team GMC

A chalet full of recent guests living it up on the slopes

Snow - absolutely chuffing loads of the stuff

2011-12-26T02:19:00.000-08:00

First things first - Happy Christmas from all at Green Mountain Chalets...

In this months blog:

A selection of stunning photos taken recently in The Three Valleys
Snow - absolutely chuffing loads of the stuff
Availability/Special Offers/Long Weekends
TripAdvisor
Competitions

Snow

A mornings snow

Right, lets not beat around the bush. It's snowed, but not only has it snowed, it's absolutely bucketed it down and the locals and the press have got very excited about this (and rightly so). I've heard some belting facts being bandied around about this snow - some true, others more fanciful. Here goes with a few of them - already this season we've had more snow than last season, the hard packed base is already of such a level that you'd expect towards the end of a season, it's the best start to a season since the 1980's AND this snow is whiter than any previous seasons snow... the list goes on. But lets be honest - all this really means is theres more snow to play in and what better place to do it this season than Green Mountain Chalets

Availability/Special Offers

It's that time of year, Christmas is out the way (just) and it's time to start looking forward. With January just around the corner we have discounted ALL our remaining beds in January to £350pp - meaning you could save up to £150pp

We're also taking bookings for long weekends and short breaks during these weeks - at just £75pppn in either Chalet La Maison or Chalet L'Orcieres. Get in touch for full details.

Half Term 11th Feb - due to a cancelation we've got 6 double rooms and a bunk room now available. These are £580pp (-£75 for kids)

TripAdvisor

Chalet L'Ocieres in the sunshine

We entered this season with a certain amount of trepidation. As some of you will be aware we have only ever received 5 star reviews on www.TripAdvisor.com - and we are very proud of the fact. So why the trepidation?

Well one day someone may give us a review that is less than 5 stars and as such we have to work very hard to maintain this wonderful track record. We shouldn't have been worried as we've had our first review of the season already and guess what..... yup, 5 stars.

You can read all of our reviews here - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

Competition time

We've recently had lots of GMC gear up for grabs all over the place, several lucky folk won one of our special edition Love:Inc/GMC collaboration T Shirts on www.GoneBoarding.com, a guest that stayed with us last week won a brand spanking new jacket courtesy of our other clotting sponsors Westbeach and rumour has it there'll be quite a large competition going on the Metro Snow website very soon - watch this space for further details.

Thats all for now but as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions then please don't hesitate to get in touch

Ciao for now!!

Team GMC

Le neige est la... (The snow is here!)

2011-12-05T04:05:00.000-08:00

In this months blog:

SNOW...!
Chalet Improvements
Our lovely new sponsor
Another hook up - 2020 Vision
Availability

SNOW

Well it's arrived. After a few weeks of bum twitching and listening to the neigh sayers (and the press) saying it was going to be a worse season than last season it has finally arrived. Although things have started slowly the forecast for this week is looking encouraging, with much lower temperatures and upwards of 1m of snow due on the long term forecast (For an up to date forecast keep your eye on SnowForecast.com - http://fr.snow-forecast.com/resorts/St-Martin-De-Belleville/6day/mid)

Chalet Improvements

Well as most of you will know 2011/12 represents a big year in Green Mountain Chalets history, we're no longer a new company (having set up in 2009) and are upping the ante this season to reflect this - already we've had a new website, we've increased capacity form 13 to 32 beds and we've not stopped there!

Extending Chalet la Maison has given us a LOT

more space, but this doesn't just mean more beds - we've also got an additional lounge area with cinema screen TV (with a screen size of over 2 metres... not that we like to brag!), full sky sports package so no one ever has to miss a game, DVD library and 4 large comfy sofas (not to mention a huge beanbag!) to rest your ski weary behinds upon.

In addition to all the latest technology this means we also now have an additional snug area complete with log burner, fleece throws, comfy sofas and large cushions - perfect for unwinding with a good book and a glass of wine after a long hard day on the slopes.

Add to this our new Love:Inc Snowboard Company sponsored bootroom, a partially re written menu (keeping all of your old favourites but also throwing a few new dishes in there), a fleet of new cars AND a new terrace. Phew, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Our very generous new sponsor...

Many of our fans on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/GreenMountainCh) will have noticed that i got very giddy recently following a conversation with the internationally renowned Canadian clothing company Westbeach. To cut a long story short Westbeach have identified Green Mountain Chalets as a company that they'd like to work with more closely and help support - bonzer!!

This means that we'll all be sporting Westbeach gear on the slopes and around the chalet, getting involved in helping to promote them in resort and in return they'll be throwing the might of their PR machine behind GMC which can only be a good thing.

They only work with two chalet companies so be selected as one
of them is a HUGE honour - here's to a successful relationship. Thanks Westbeach....x

Another Hook up - 2020 Vision Recordings

We've teamed up with Leeds dance music bohemoths 2020 Vision Recordings, owned by legendary Leeds DJ and producer Ralph Lawson they'll be helping to promote GMC and Ralphy himself will be staying with us in January (2020 fans get a special discount and a special page on the website - http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/2020/). Maybe this means i'll have to relinquish access to the iPod dock for one week though, and let the professionals have a go... Hopefully i can get my own back on the slopes for the thrashing he gave me around the running circuit.

Ralph's also got a new blog out celebrating a rather significant milestone - http://www.ralphlawson.co.uk/

Availability Update

Things have quietened down recently as Christmas approaches and people wait to see where and when the snow hits, that said we have taken several bookings. You'll find our up to date availability here

Half Term Cancellation:

Unfortunately we've had a group cancel who we're coming to stay at Half Term 2012 (Feb 11th) meaning we now have 3 doubles and a bunk room available. If you're interested then please get in touch.

Special Offer:

January 7th and 14th have now been reduced to £350pp and will fill up fast, get in touch for more info.

Thats all for now but as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions then please don't hesitate to get in touch

Ciao for now!!

Team GMC

Counting down to the big trip...

2011-11-09T06:10:00.000-08:00

In this months blog:

Counting down to the Big Trip...
‘Celebrity Master Chef’ semi-finalist selects a dish for our 2011/12 menu.
All change at the chalets...
GMC T Shirt
Availability Update

Counting down to the big trip...

Well how time has flown! It doesn't seem two minutes since our summer season finished in September. Now we're just two weeks away from returning to France to set the chalets up for the upcoming season. We've been incredibly productive over the last few weeks, it was lovely to meet guests past/present/future at the recent London and Birmingham ski shows (that's us on our stand). We've been up to so much more too. We thought you might like to hear about some of it...

TV’s ‘Celebrity Master Chef’ semi-finalist Tim Lovejoy selects a dish for our 2011/12 menu.

Whilst we were in London recently, friend of GMC, former guest, and generally all round nice chap Tim Lovejoy invited us to watch the live broadcast of his BBC Sunday morning cookery programme 'Something for the Weekend' which was absolutely fascinating.

Whilst we were there Tim selected a dish that will feature on this years menu. We're happy to announce that Chicken, Chorizo and Chickpea stew served with Sweet Potato mash is the dish that Tim chose.

Guests who stay with us this year will have the chance to sample it first hand. A full press release is available by request.

All change at the chalets...

Visitors to GMC this season will be seeing an awful lot of changes around the place. Not only is there more space but we've also invested heavily in three (yes THREE, you read that correctly!) new cars to make sure our guests are ferried to and from the slopes in style. We've also been busy ordering various "boys toys" for around the chalet but are keeping some of these a surprise - suffice to say they'll be a welcome addition to the chalet.

T Shirts

We've been asked in the past if we'd consider doing a special run of GMC T Shirts for people to take home as souvenirs, and here it is. The first ever, limited edition GMC/Love:Inc collaboration T Shirt. Available to buy in the chalet this year for £20. If you want to get your hands on one early just drop us a line and we can post one out.

Availability Update

We've also been very busy recently taking bookings, to see if you're week is still available please visit our availability page here

Here's a quick summary:
FULLY BOOKED in Chalet La Maison - 17 Dec, 23 Dec, 30 Dec, 28 Jan, 11 Feb, 25 Feb and 17 Mar.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY in Chalet La Maison - 10 Dec, 7 Jan, 14 Jan, 18 Feb, 3 Mar, 10 Mar and 24 Mar.

Only four weeks with FULL AVAILABILITY left at Chalet La Maison - 21 Jan, 4 Feb, 31 Mar and 7 Apr.

So if you've got a big group wanting to book you'll need to get in touch sharpish.

Thats all for now but as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions then please don't hesitate to get in touch

Ciao for now!!

Team GMC

The snow is coming...

2011-10-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

October blog summary:

Snow already in 3V!
Less than 10 weeks until St Martin lifts open!
Availability update - 17 Dec, 23 Dec, 28 Jan, 11 Feb, 25 Feb, 17 Mar - FULLY BOOKED!
Jet2 free ski carriage - use code FREESKI
GMC/Love:Inc Special Edition T-Shirt on sale at Birmingham Ski Show 28-30 Oct!
2011/2012 3V ski pass now available to buy online
Westbeach Shop at GMC

Early 3V snowfall
So...it's getting closer to snow time and boy are we getting excited! The temperatures in England may have been soaring last week however we've seen signs of early snowfall in the Three Valleys already!

Ski lifts opening countdown...
It's less than 10 weeks now until the St Martin lifts open and the bookings are flying in. We're now fully booked:

17 December
23 December
28 January (Chalet La Maison)
11 February
25 February (Chalet La Maison)
17 March (Chalet La Maison)

For full details of prices and availability visit the prices page of our website - http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/prices.htm

Airline offers

The airlines have got some nice little deals on at the moment which mean it's worthwhile getting booked nice and early. Jet2 are offering free ski carriage for bookings made before the end of October. Just use the code FREESKI. Which means you can bring your swanky new kit out at no extra cost! Easyjet are also offering half price baggage.

Special Edition T-Shirt on sale soon

Having collected all the votes we have now ordered the special edition GMC/Love:Inc collaboration T-Shirt. To take a look at the winning design then come down (or up) to the Birmingham Ski Show on 28-30 October where there'll be on sale!

3V Ski pass available online

The 2011/2012 Three Valleys ski pass is now available to buy online. It's easy to do, saves queueing in the ticket office and gets you straight out onto the slopes. Follow this link

Westbeach Collection

Our Westbeach kit has now arrived and is being GMC branded as we write! We're really pleased to be associated with the brand. You can shop by following the link on our website.

Until next time...

That's all for now, we've got a busy month ahead. Can't believe it's only six weeks until we start packing up to head out to France again. Bring on the snow...!

GMC Needs You...

2011-09-09T03:53:00.000-07:00

September blog summary:

Availability update: Christmas and Feb half term FULLY BOOKED
Family offer - families of four, one child stays FREE
Spreading the GMC Word - flyers, posters, intranets - GMC NEEDS YOUR HELP
Birmingham Ski Show 28-30 Oct - GMC will be there!!

Availability Update
We are now back in the UK and feeling very wintery! Not only has the UK weather made us think of snow, the bookings for winter are also flooding in. We've only just left France but we can't wait to get back.

Here's an update of our current availability but it's changing every day:

Date	Chalet La Maison		Chalet l’Orcières
Date	Price (£)	Availability	Price (£)	Availability
Sat 10 Dec 2011 – Sat 17 Dec 2011	£380	Some rooms left	£430	Available
Sat 17 Dec 2011 – Fri 23 Dec 2011	£380	Some rooms left	£430	Fully booked
Fri 23 Dec 2011 – Fri 30 Dec 2011	£530	Fully booked	£580	Fully booked
Fri 30 Dec 2011 – Sat 7 Jan 2012	£580	Some rooms left	£440*	Available
Sat 7 Jan 2012 – Sat 14 Jan 2012	£440	Some rooms left	£490	Available
Sat 14 Jan 2012 – Sat 21 Jan 2012	£440	Available	£490	Available
Sat 21 Jan 2012 – Sat 28 Jan 2012	£470	Available	£520	Some rooms left
Sat 28 Jan 2012 – Sat 4 Feb 2012	£470	Fully booked	£520	Some rooms left
Sat 4 Feb 2012 – Sat 11 Feb 2012	£470	Available	£520	Available
Sat 11 Feb 2012 – Sat 18 Feb 2012	£580	Fully booked	£630	Fully booked
Sat 18 Feb 2012 – Sat 25 Feb 2012	£530	Some rooms left	£580	Fully booked
Sat 25 Feb 2012 – Sat 3 Mar 2012	£500	Available	£550	Available
Sat 3 Mar 2012 – Sat 10 Mar 2012	£470	Available	£520	Available
Sat 10 Mar 2012 – Sat 17 Mar 2012	£500	Available	£550	Some rooms left
Sat 17 Mar 2012 – Sat 24 Mar 2012	£500	Fully booked	£550	Available
Sat 24 Mar 2012 – Sat 31 Mar 2012	£500	Available	£550	Available
Sat 31 Mar 2012 – Sat 7 Apr 2012	£500	Available	£550	Available
Sat 7 Apr 2012 – Sat 14 Apr 2012	£500	Available	£550	Available

Family Offer

Don't forget about our family offer - families of four, one child stays FREE! We have already had lots of families taking advantage of this offer, it seems to be going down a treat!

New, New, New
We're all about the 'new' this year, so far we've had New Chalet and New Website. That's not all, we have a big shopping list of items to buy in preparation for season 2011/2012 including new vehicles to get our guests to the slopes in style. We've also got a few other changes planned but you'll need to visit us at the chalet to find out...

Spreading the GMC Word
We've got a bumper new batch of marketing material including cards, flyers and posters. Once again, we'll be distributing throughout Yorkshire and The World - if you can help us out by putting posters/flyers at work, schools or clubs then please get in touch. It would be very much appreciated. If you don't have a notice board then maybe you could help us out by posting on your work intranet. Again, get in touch if you think you might be able to help spread the GMC word.

Birmingham Ski Show
For the past two years we have attended the Birmingham Ski Show thanks to Rivington Alpine. This year we shall have a stand of our very own. The show takes place at Birmingham NEC on 28, 29 and 30 October 2011. Come along and find our stand to stay hello/bonjour/alreet/how do to Team GMC.

End of Summer Road Trip

Once again, we had a fantastic trip back through France and managed to stop-off at Chateau Pruzilly. Jean-Paul and Anna chucked in their 9-5 jobs in Paris and headed to the vineyards and have restored a beautiful chateau which is now available for weddings and events. They also have three rooms available in their boutique BandB priced at just 75euros per room - which having stayed there is a bargain! Chateau Pruzilly is located just three hours from the Chalet and is a perfect luxury stop-off if you're driving to the Alps.

We also had a very special stay at Kota Cabana tree house for Gems 30th - sleeping in a house 8m up in the trees!

Until next month...
So, that's all for now - if you're wanting to stay with us for season 2011/2012 then get in touch.

Also, don't forget to help us spread the GMC Word, it all helps...

Summer v Winter - which one is better?

2011-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

Summary of our August Blog:

St Martin Summer Events
New Winter Offer - FREE transfers for bookings before end Sept 2011!
Availability update
Team GMC become three...

We've only got a couple of weeks left in the mountains now and it looks like the sun is set to shine the whole time! We've had an absolutely fantastic summer and truly can't believe how much there is do do here - and the best bit for us, how few people know about it!

We've had a very busy and varied month - first, we had James' Granny to stay which was a really interesting test for us - what is there to do for an 88yr old in the mountains? We found the answer to be: loads. We ventured up Cime Caron to the highest point in the Three Valleys, took the lifts up and over to Meribel for lunch, took a drive through Valley des Encombres to take in the views and managed lots of picnic and wine tasting stop offs at some very picturesque spots.

We then had an adventure company to stay for a few days to check out biking in the area and learned a thing or two ourselves. There are numerous road biking routes within an hours drive, including the famous Tour de France climbs at Col de la Madeleine and Col De Glandon. We also had a mountain bike guide for a day to explore the 3V and rode over to Courchevel and back on some pretty testing singletrack routes devised by a French national MTB coach.

We've had a few days in-between to explore and been on some fantastic hikes - including a six hour round trip up La Cochet and a hike where we discovered an airstrip on the other side of the valley from the Chalet - amazing!

St Martin Summer Events

There's been lots of events over the last few weeks taking place in St Martin including La Bourgui which is a 127km road race to Albertville and back. On Saturday we watched the Vincent Jay Nordic Ski Race - a very hardcore race which involved racing up the road on modified roller blades (short ski's with wheels) - it looks impossible and coming down is pretty funny to watch! We've also had St Martin Town Fete where there was an interesting French band performing - not quite Glastonbury. Gem also hurled herself out of the church tower onto a zip line running over St Martin - not something you get to do every day!

We've debated over the last few weeks whether we prefer summer or winter here - the jury's still out! With summer nearly over, what we do know is - we couldn't be more excited about winter!

New Winter Offer - free transfers
We are currently offering FREE TRANSFERS for groups of 6+ who book any week in Dec/Jan (exc. NY) before the end of September 2011. Get in touch for further details.

Don't forget about our family offer - families of four booking any week at GMC will only pay for one child and one child stays for FREE.

Availability
We only have two bedrooms left for February half term and we are fully booked 28 January 2012 and 17 March 2012 in Chalet La Maison. Get in touch for up to date availability for your group.

Team GMC become three
We are pleased to announce that we have recruited a fantastic chalet host to join team GMC for season 2011/2012. Spike has spent the last two seasons working as a snowboard instructor in Canada and is now testing out the GMC 2012 menu on friends and family in preparation for his new role. We're looking forward to working with Spike and hitting the mountain together - hopefully he'll be able to give us a few tips there!

GMC T-Shirt
We've got together with Love:Inc Snowboard Company to produce an exclusive GMC/Love:Inc collaboration T-Shirt which we'll be selling this winter. The only problem is we can't choose which one - we've been collecting votes on Facebook and Twitter so if you can cast your beady eye over these three designs and let us know which one you prefer by commenting below. The winning design will get put into production and be available to purchase this winter.

So, that's all for now. After an active month we will be taking things slightly slower over the next few weeks. The GMC office currently consists of a pink sun lounger and a giant green bean bag! I think that the furthest we will move today is from the GMC terrace to the outdoor swimming pool at Les Menuires. It's a tough life...

St Martin in Summer - Stunning!

2011-07-23T04:05:00.000-07:00

Summary of our July Blog:

Summer in La Combe
Summer offer - £250 per person
Winter - flights/Eurostar on sale now
GMC Family offer - families of four, one child stays free

Summer in La Combe
So... we have now arrived in La Combe after a couple of months back home in Yorkshire and we've arrived to find the traditional local village bread oven has been re-opened after many, many years of disrepair. We've sampled it and it's fantastic. It also seems that whilst we've been away they've upped the French kisses from two to three! They're just getting greedy now (this is something to do with the region of France you're from apparently).

We have only been back for a couple of days but we've been straight out into the mountains to explore. We can't believe how much there is do do here - we're like a couple of kids, we want to do everything and we want to do it now! There are miles and miles of stunning walking and biking trails along with loads of activities at the foot of the mountain for children. It's the perfect place to spend the summer.
It's also been really interesting walking down runs we normally fly down on our boards in winter and also discovering what's under all that snow - in some places, tennis courts it seems!

We will be taking life at a slightly slower pace for the next week or so as we will be joined by our oldest and very special guest - James' granny who is 88yrs old. She has been supportive of our French adventure from the off so we're really looking forward to showing her around our French home. It just shows there's something in the mountains to suit everyone and any age!
We have a lovely new terrace at the Chalet and spent last night catching up with our La Combe neighbours around the outdoor fire pit sampling a bottle of local red...or five! If you fancy joining us for a last minute break then don't forget we have a special offer at just £250 per person, per week, catered.

Winter Time
Even though the sun is shining in La Combe we still manage to find time to think about snow and what boards we'll be riding, what boots we'll be wearing etc. The sales are on in the UK so now is the time to pick up some quality kit for 2011/2012. The travel companies are also getting ready for winter with flights already on sale to Geneva/Chambery for the winter and Eurostar will be taking bookings for the ski train from 25 July 2011. So, get in early - there are some great deals to be had, get booking now.

Winter Offers
We launched our brand new website last month so if you haven't had chance to have a nosey then take a look...http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/

We have a fantastic new family offer this year as we know that family holidays don't come cheap. Families of four staying at GMC will only pay for one child and one child stays for FREE. Don't forget we also have our new luxury Chalet, L'Orcieres. With fantastic family rooms and a sauna and steam room for mum and dad to relax in. Also, at La Maison we have expanded and have a separate children's lounge and two rooms ideal for children with bunk beds. We have limited availability for February half term so get in touch.

http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/prices.htm

That's all for now, we're about to set off on our bikes this afternoon. We've been wondering why everyone seems to be biking wearing full body armour, I've got a feeling we're about to find out....

BIG GMC Updates this Month!

2011-06-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

We've got a lots of BIG BIG news for you in the June blog, announcements galore!!

New GMC Chalet
New Website
Summer special offer
Staff required

NEW GMC Chalet

We are thrilled to announce that Green Mountain Cahelts are expanding! Not only are we expanding our current chalet from 13 to sleep 18 people but we are also taking on another Chalet in St Martin which sleeps up to 14!

Chalet L'Orcieres

Chalet L'Orcieres - Our new chalet is a welcoming and homely barn conversion located in Le Villard which is just a 3 min drive from the ski lift in St Martin. The Chalet has been renovated to a high standard including luxury finishes such as a sauna and steam room! It sleeps up to 14 people:

Bedroom 1 - Bedroom with queen size bed, en-suite and mountain views
Bedroom 2 - Bedroom with queen size bed, bunk beds, en-suite and mountain views
Bedroom 3 - Bedroom with two single beds and bunk beds
Bedroom 4 - Bedroom with queen size bed and bunk beds

Master Suite (Bedroom 1)

For more information, pictures and prices CLICK HERE

That's not all... NEW WEBSITE -www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk

We have been working hard behind the scenes for some weeks now and have totally re written and designed our brand spanking new website. Thanks to the wonderful web maestro Mr Andy Cooke, we are now able to launch our site way ahead of schedule!

The new website has lots more information, lots of special offers, great new pictures (thanks Tom Jagger) and a fab new design - we hope you like it!

www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk

We'd love to hear your feedback, if you've got any comments then get in touch.

So... we are now taking bookings from 1-32 people at Green Mountain Chalets! Enquiries are flooding in - so if you have a specific week in mind then get in touch asap info@greenmountainchalets.co.uk

Not forgetting summer at GMC

Whilst we are very excited about winter season 2011/2012 we still have summer in the mountains to look forward to! We will be swapping Leeds for La Combe in July and August 2011.

We are now offering a reduced summer rate of just £250 per person, per week, catered - a bargain! Take a look at what activities are on offer in the mountains in July and August at...http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/summer.htm

Staff

We are looking to take on an extra member of staff to run Chalet L'Orcieres.

The role will involve all the usual Chalet Host tasks such as; cleaning, cooking, making beds, driving guests to/from the slopes and...lots of skiing/boarding! The person lucky enough to join team GMC will need to be: hard working, organised, flexible and sociable. If you know anyone who may be interested then ask them to send their CV to info@greenmountainchalets.co.uk

So, if you fancy - summer in the mountains, winter in the mountains or working in the mountains then get in touch!

Summer, summer, summer time!

2011-06-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

GMC Travels

We are writing this blog from sunny (at times)...... Leeds! We've had a busy few weeks since leaving the chalet. On our journey home we had a fantastic time exploring France visiting campsites near Monaco, Nimes and even finding a campsite in Paris (well, Versailles but close enough). We saw many beautiful sights, ate lots of wonderful food and sampled a glass or two of some fantastic French wine.

Whilst it's great being back in the UK to catch up with friends and family, we are thoroughly looking forward to heading back to the mountains this summer and are trying to get in shape for lots of walking and mountain biking - it beats being sat in an office!

GMC Summer

Now we've been banging on about us opening for the summer for a month or so now, so here's a reminder.

Anyone who's looking for a lakes and mountains getaway, whether it's for walking, mountain biking, relaxing, road biking or just time in the open air with family or friends - GMC is the place for you.

We're opening our doors this year to welcome guests to enjoy the summer mountain sunshine with us in July and August. If you don't fancy staying a full week (which is just £300 per person - catered) then we are offering stays on a per night basis for just £60 per night including breakfast and evening meal with unlimited wine. We still have availability for our wine tasting mini break (9-12 July) and our mountain bike week (20-27 July) - so get in touch.

We have a couple of events planned:

Saturday July 9th - Wine Tasting Weekend
Over the course of the weekend you will be driven to destinations in the Alps, some tranquil and peaceful, others awe inspiring. Where you will enjoy a bottle of local French wine chosen specifically for that destination by our vineyard partner. While away an hour or two in stunning surroundings with a bottle or two - paradise!

Wednesday July 20th - MTB Week
With organised rides throughout the week, guided tours of the alps, ski lifts will be open allowing for downhill descents from the top of the Cime Caron mountain which is 3000m+ (you can also do the climb if that's your thing...).

On Sunday 24th July it's the Val Thorens Cross County Mountain Bike event - open to the general public and with routes to suit all levels (20km, 40km, 70km and the big one - 100km)

France has something to offer for every type of break so why not combine your mountain break at GMC with:

A trip to the south coast for some beach action (just 4hrs away)
Festival action (on a beach, no wellies required!) at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival in Sete (4hrs away)
Take part in relaxing lake activities at Annecy (1hr30 away) or try out more extreme river action at the Ardeche (2hrs away).

So many options! Our new terrace at Chalet La Maison has also now been completed meaning its BBQ time at GMC this summer - take a look.

And...not forgetting winter at GMC

We have once again been in hush hush negotiations on many fronts and will have a new announcement coming soon...watch this space!

The new website is also coming along nicely and will be ready to launch very soon... we get more and more excited every time we see it.

Charity

We mentioned the first ever Guiseley Lions beer festival in our last blog which was a huge success. Guiseley Lions raised over £2,500 which will go to local worthy causes. James also managed to sample two thirds of the beer menu! All in all it was a successful weekend.

So, that's all for now. If you fancy joining us to experience summer in the mountains then get in touch.

Turning our attention to Summer in the mountains

2011-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

So…our last guests have now left, the St Martin lifts have closed, we’ve had the GMC end of season bbq, we’ve said farewell to the St Martin seasonaires, ‘we’ve made a party’ for the last time at La Folie Douce closing party - I guess that’s a wrap for season 2010/2011 and boy has it been a good ‘un!

Things certainly haven’t come to a stand still at GMC HQ – we’re busy planning for summer and season 2011/2012.

Summer

We currently have availability for July 2011 and August 2011. We are offering a weeks catered accommodation for just £300 per person.

The lake at Annecy

We are also offering long weekends during the summer at just £60 per person per night which makes it easy to combine a trip to GMC with a stay in Annecy perhaps (just 1hr away) or if you are craving some beach action then extend your trip to the south coast which is just 4hrs drive away.

We also have a couple of events planned for the summer – places are limited so you will need to reserve your place asap.

Wine tasting mini-break

If you fancy a short break in the mountains to sample some fine wines then join us between Sat 9 July – Tuesday 12 July for just £150 per person.

Mountain Bike Week

A week dedicated to lovers of two wheels and lots of mud! What better place to indulge in your passion than the French Alps.

With organised rides throughout the week, guided tours of the alps, ski lifts will be open allowing for downhill descents from the top of the Cime Caron mountain which is 3000m+ (you can also do the climb if that's your thing...)

On Sunday 24th July it's the Val Thorens Cross County Mountain Bike event - open to the general public and with routes to suit all levels (20km, 40km, 70km and the big one - 100km).

You can also get involved in the other alpine activities that happen on a daily basis around these parts - hikes, bbq's, fishing and the like.

We can organise for equipment to be rented locally or you're free to bring your own and store it in our secure boot room.

Again, just £300 per person half board.

Summer Calendar

Sat 2 Jul	Sun 3 Jul	Mon 4 Jul	Tues 5 Jul	Weds 6 Jul	Thurs 7 Jul	Fri 8 Jul
Sat 9 Jul	Sun 10 Jul	Mon 11 Jul	Tues 12 Jul	Weds 13 Jul Unavailable	Thurs 14 Jul Unavailable	Fri 15 Jul Unavailable
Sat 16 Jul Unavailable	Sun 17 Jul Unavailable	Mon 18 Jul Unavailable	Tues 19 Jul Unavailable	Weds 20 Jul	Thurs 21 Jul	Fri 22 Jul
Sat 23 Jul	Sun 24 Jul	Mon 25 Jul	Tues 26 Jul	Weds 27 Jul	Thurs 28 Jul	Fri 29 Jul
Sat 30 Jul	Sun 31 Jul	Mon 1 Aug	Tues 2 Aug	Weds 3 Aug	Thurs 4 Aug	Fri 5 Aug
Sat 6 Aug	Sun 7 Aug	Mon 8 Aug	Tues 9 Aug	Weds 10 Aug	Thurs 11 Aug	Fri 12 Aug
Sat 13 Aug	Sun 14 Aug	Mon 15 Aug	Tues 16 Aug	Weds 17 Aug	Thurs 18 Aug	Fri 19 Aug
Sat 20 Aug	Sun 21 Aug	Mon 22 Aug	Tues 23 Aug	Weds 24 Aug	Thurs 25 Aug	Fri 26 Aug
Sat 27 Aug	Sun 28 Aug	Mon 29 Aug	Tues 30 Aug	Weds 31 Aug

9-12 July - Wine Tasting Mini Break

20-27 July - Mountain Bike Week

Get in touch and reserve your stay.

Season 2011/2012

We’ve now signed contracts for our expansion so it’s official – Chalet La Maison will incorporate Chalet Grange and we will sleep up to 18 people!

The chalets are interlinked on the first floor which will give us access to a second lounge area, three extra double bedrooms and two bedrooms with bunk beds. The layout of the chalet will change slightly as we will be moving out of our ‘lovely’ living quarters and we will be moving into what was previously the family room in Chalet La Maison. We will then create a new boot room in the cave for 2011/2012.

So, in summary we will now be able to offer:

· Seven double bedrooms;

· Two bedrooms with bunk beds;

· Lounge area with log burner;

· Separate children’s lounge area with games console; and

· New boot room.

All this, and we are not increasing our prices for the third year running!

Take a look around...

We’re also currently working hard producing a new website which will be launched in the summer – watch this space!

Team GMC

We were lucky to be joined by photographer Tom Jagger (www.tomjagger.co.uk) during March 2011 who was able to capture Team GMC in action and produce some fantastic pictures.

We’ve also got some swanky new pics for the website which are under wraps…

We like to be self-indulgent here at GMC, so here’s a few snaps of us which make it look like we actually know what we’re doing on the slopes – good work Jagger!

We’ve only got two weeks left at the chalet and then it’s relaxation time for us. We head first to see friends in Bologna, then embark on a week long French camping road trip back to the UK (yep, Gemma in a tent!) where we will be attending a very important event in James’ calendar (further details below) before heading out to Crete for the wedding of the year (forget Wills and Kate – this is a Geordie wedding, it’s going to be huge!) then back to Leeds, phew!

We’ll be back in France at the end of June ready for the summer season – we can’t wait! Hopefully we’ll see some of you for a glass of wine or two on our new summer terrace…

The most important event of the year

James has been spreading the word for some time now about the first ever Guiseley Lions beer festival which will be taking place on Friday 19 May and Saturday 20 May. After six months with no real ale (other than that brought out by some very kind guests) this is very well timed!

Green Mountain Chalets are sponsoring a barrel (Goose eye brewery) and we will be pulling pints on Saturday afternoon and attending on Saturday evening – it would be fantastic to see some familiar faces. Tickets are £5 per session (including two half pints and a free commemorative glass) and can be purchased from Coopers Real Ale House, Guiseley (or get in touch with us – we can pass on your details).

After six months in the alps it’s probably convenient to wrap up this blog on the theme of ale! We’ll be getting our fill of ale, curry and fish & chips – my mouth is watering just writing this…au revoir for now.

Season 2010/2011 - what a season it's been

2011-03-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Season 2010/2011 - Merci's

So...we are nearing the end of our second season and what a season it's been!

As many of you will know from press reports it's not been the best season in terms of snowfall (down 70% on last season!) but that hasn't stopped us! Thanks to the wonderful 3 Vallees piste team who have done a truly fantastic job, all of us here at GMC (staff and guests) have had a fantastic season on the slopes - and honestly, whilst we've seen better, the snow really hasn't been that bad.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all the guests who have stayed with us this year and helped make this season so enjoyable. We have lots of good memories, some highlights being... the season kicking off with a visit from Tim Lovejoy and appearing on the BBC's Something for the weekend programme, the New Years eve forward roll competition down a rock hard ice slope (ouch!), our first ever Russian guests, the drunken French themed evening with Porkpie and crew, seeing the 'Silver Bullet' get to grips with snowboarding, James being out-bantered by a group of half-term 7yr olds, many and various Nutella moustaches, moonwalking, spreading the 'Love:Inc Snowboarding Company' word at the XGames in Tignes and all this finished off with a big party at the Folie Douce - The first ever Love:Inc Fundango!

Summer 2011 at GMC

Whilst this season has nearly come to an end, the good news is that you can still get some GMC action during the summer! We are currently taking bookings for July 2011 and August 2011 at the fantastic, bargain price of just £300 per person (£200 for children 2-16yrs) which includes; seven nights accommodation, breakfast and evening meal with unlimited wine.

I hear you asking - but what is there to do when the snow has gone? Well, there's one or two things to keep you busy...

Walking - there are 50 marked pedestrian paths, a total of 300km. Try walking on a glacier, walking in a National Park and spending the evening in a mountain refuge or try an evening torchlight walk.
Mountain biking - Saint Martin/Les Menuires/Val Thorens is a French cyclying federation with a wide range of 21 MTB itineraries covering a total of 120km.
Fishing - the Plan d'eau lake is topped with river trout every week. There are over 10 high altitude lakes and numerous rivers.

If you are looking for something more extreme you could try:

Rock climbing
Microlight flights
Parapente
White water rafting
Quad biking

There are lots of activities for children (and young at heart adults):

Summer toboggan run
Outdoor and indoor swimming pools
Indoor fun park
Aerial adventure course
Tennis
Trampolining and elastic jump
Street surfing and roller skating
Archery
Football
Volleyball
Fencing
18 hole mini-gold

That's not all...

If you fancy something more relaxing then you can visit a local spa.
If you are feeling arty then there is a local art and craft workshop
If you want to brush up on your skills in the kitchen then La Bouitte's (2 star Michelin) chef Rene Meilluer offers cookery lessons in July and August.
The local farms andmuseums are also open to the public during the summer months.

So, if you fancy something a little bit more energetic this year and want to spend your summer in the Franch alps with fantastic views, plenty of sunshine, good food and wine then get in touch. Oh, there's also a rumour of bikini skiing on the glacier in Val Thorens - James in a bikini - who could resist that!

Bigger and better for 2011/2012

We have plenty more good news at GMC! We are back next year - bigger and better (if that's possible!) We are expanding to sleep 18 people in seven double bedrooms and two bedrooms with bunk beds. We will also have a new boot room for 2011/2012 and a new separate children's lounge area on the second floor.

We are happy to announce that whilst we are entering into our third season our prices remain the same for 2011/2012. We are also abolishing our single person supplement. Also, if you have stayed with us before and book before the end of this season (16 April) then we will give you the same deal you've had previously.

The enquiries are already flooding in, so if you've got a specific week in mind then get in touch asap.

So, that's all from us at GMC for now - we hope to see many of you in 2011/2012...

2011-01-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

In this months blog.
The Season so far
The Boarding House - Snowboard Camp
March - Special Offers
Summer @ GMC
Season 2011/2012
The season so far...

Well here we are, nearly at the end of January. The season is all of six weeks old already and what a start it's been!

Before Christmas we were lucky enough to have Tim Lovejoy stay with us (who some of you will know from BBC's Something for the weekend, and also Soccer AM). Tim joined us to blow the cobwebs off his boarding legs and test out a very "interesting" new jacket (the less said of which the better). Here's a link to our brief appearance on the BBC if you missed it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9dBYhsN1o

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with both returning and new guests - all of which made for a fun festive period and we received our first Trip Advisor reviews for the season (Here and Here). January has gone with a bang too (last weeks guests racked up the biggest mini-bar bill we've ever had!!) - roll on the rest of the season.

We had a competition in Whitelines Snowboard Magazine at the back end of 2010 and the winner showed up with all his new kit last week - a new board, boots, jacket, hat, gloves and a week with us here at Green Mountain Chalets - not a bad prize!!

The Boarding House - Snowboard Camp

For one week only from 5 March 2011 Green Mountain Chalets will throw open its doors and be transformed into…The Boarding House. A week for like-minded boarders, riders and snow surfers (whatever your preferred terminology!) to get together and enjoy a weeks entertainment that will satisfy everyone from the holiday boarder to the gnarlyest of riders!

What we’ve got planned:

• Three half days of group snowboard instruction with RTM Snowboarding. Each will focus on a specific area (General Technique. Tricks/freestyle/park and Back country/off piste riding)

• Love Inc Snowboard Company freebies.

• Free board edging/waxing to keep your kit in tip-top shape.

• We will arrange for a masseuse to come to the Chalet at the end of the week to ease those aches and pains (treatments not included in the price).

• There will also be all the usuals you could expect from GMC (good food, comfortable surroundings, great banter) but with a chalet full of like-minded people, goodie bags and freebies galore.

Here’s the best bit. Despite all of the extras above we will not be increasing the price from the standard price advertised on our website, meaning you get all the above plus 7 nights catered accommodation for

£500. Places are limited – grab yours now - full details here.

March - Late Deals, Long Weekends and Special Offers

We still have availability for March so if you fancy a late deal in March then get in touch for our special offers. We are also offering long weekends.

Summers 2011

This summer for the first time we will be flinging open our doors and welcoming in walkers, mountain bikers and people who'd like to experience the breathtaking surroundings of The Alps during the summer - more details in the coming months.

Season 2011/2012

We are expanding in 2011/12 and will be able to sleep 18 comfortably - videos and pictures of our expansion chalet to follow over the next few months.

The best place to keep in touch with us on a daily basis is our Facebook page

Until next month, keep doing those snow-dances - and if you need anything please get in touch.

James & Gem

Whirlwind

2009-11-30T10:58:00.000-08:00

Not sure if that's spelt right.... And also no idea where to start so I suppose that'll do!

Ok, I know I should contribute to this blog more often but i don't. Perhaps I have far too much to do or perhaps I'm just a lazy bugger. I'll leave it to you to make that decision!!

We're actually in France now preparring for the upcoming season now but i should really mention a couple of other things before I get onto that.

We were lucky enough (see earlier blog entitled contacts!) to be able to attend the ski and snowboard show in Birmingham in October. What a weekend we had, it was a wonderful opportunity to speak to potential customers and colaborators face to face and tell them about what we offer and really sell the chalet. For me it was a chance to release 6 months worth of pent up frustration - having been sat at a desk having to bite my tongue and not talk about the chalet (whilst I was serving notice in my old job) I was now let loose on the general public and I loved it! We met a lot of lovely people, had a lot of good feedback and have confirmed one large group booking directly from it. We've also a couple of enquiries outstanding. Fingers crossed!

We then had our leaving do to say goodbye to friends which as you might imagine involved lots of man hugs, a bit of crying (not from me I might add), lots of booze and resulted in a delayed departure time (in bed, hangovers etc). Eventually we headed off to Folkestone with a VERY full Landrover, waved off by two tearful mothers and other emotional family members to catch the Channel Tunnel.

This was the start of our epic journey. 890 miles in total but broken up by a Saturday evening meal at a motorway service station, a stay at Folkestone Holiday Inn, a surprisingly quick journey through the tunnel (35mins!!), several French service stations, toll booths, speed cameras (hopefully they didn't actually catch me!) and a sat nav that couldn't find it's arse with both hands! Anyway despite all of this we arrived in La Combe just after 8pm on Sunday evening, tired, hungry and very glad of an offer from Griff and Em at tye chalet next door or us to join them for something to eat. One word sums up the people involved in this act. Legends - the pair of em!

So we've been in France a whole fortnight now and I must say we've settled in very easily (partly down to two people mentioned in the last paragraph!). To go into everything we've done would make this blog even longer than it is so in short we've (deep breath..) unpacked, sorted, explored, shopped (at times it feels like that's all we've done!), visited accountants, set up accounts at shops, practiced menu dishes and had people round to test them out, done press interviews, spoken to relatives (thank the lord for Skype) bonded with the locals over a very stubborn bolt on a spare wheel, slept in each of the 8 beds we have in the chalet, showered in 3 different showers, oh and played in and on what little snow there was at Val Thorens (20mins drive up the hill).

All this is well an good but every morning I have awoken, like a small child on Christmas day and rushed to the window to check and see if it's snowed because let's face it, having done all the stuff above it would have been a very miserable season without snow. And then today it happened, having been kept awake all night by rain I awoke this morning to find the valley lightly dusted by snow - and it's not stopped since. 12 hours in total now and it's not forecast to stop anytime soon! The light dusting has been replaced by a massive dumping down.

So the season starts here, there's snow not only at village level (1000m where we are) but down as far as Moutiers in the base of the valley, now the real fun begins!!

We still have a couple of weeks before our first paying guests arrive and I for one can't wait to show off our amazing chalet to them, cook for them and help them have a wonderful week in the snow.

Now all we need is for it to keep snowing.

Au revoir for now

James

What a week

2009-11-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry, not been on here FOR AGES!!!

I guess I could say I've been too busy but whilst I have been extremely busy it would be a lie. The real reason id we've not seen direct results re hits on our website from this blog so I guess that's why - I'm all about results!

Anyhooo. Back to the subject of "what a week". We went to the Birmingham ski n snow show last weekend and it was a great success, not only was it loads of fun but it was a chance to spread the word. We gave out close to 1000 flyers and spoke to lots if lovely potential new guests (some of who we have already heard back from!). I'll cover that in another blog soon.

Then on Weds we got an email out if the blue from a lovely woman at The Guardian. I'd emailed her ages ago to say we'd been inspired to start a company and one of our inspirations was an article she'd wrote. In the email it asked for high res pictures and any more info we could let her have, she was going to feature us in this weeks special ski suppliment. Well as you can imagine we both fell off our chairs - our company isn't 6 months old yet, we've not even welcomed our first guest and were in the national press.

Here it is. http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gmg/op/s6cKr8faFPY_rrz3VgWirMw/view.m?id=230846&tid=120787&chk_my-text=t,1;c,1&cat=Hotels

I'll be doing more of these blogs more often now so keep ur eyes peeled.

James

Focussed on the goal.

2009-09-08T10:07:00.001-07:00

Back at work this week after an amazing week off. Spent it doing what needed to be done on the chalet, visiting, networking, marketing, pestering and generally trying to get things ticked off the to do list. Oh and celebrating Gem's birthday too - how could I forget.

Unfortunately now though its back to the 9-5 (or should I say 8-6, recruitment hours are a real bummer!) and hell is it tough.
Spending almost ten hours sat behind a desk doing something other than what you want to... They don't know of the grand plans yet and as such I don't want them to find out. But I'm finding the whole charade very difficult.

I've been very lucky to really enjoy my job for the last 10 years but I'm now re focussed. France, Snowboarding, taking care of our very welcome guests, making sure everyone has a wonderful holiday and come back for more is all I can think off. Being stuck behind a screen in a pokey, sticky office in Leeds isn't doing it for me anymore.

Roll on September 30th (when my notice goes in).

Until then, I need to focus on that wonderful, sweet French goal.

2009-09-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a copy of an email i thought you all might like to see.....

Fingers crossed to seeing us in print!!

To: The Guardian Travel Section

Afternoon all One Saturday in January earlir this year myself and my wife were spending a lazy morning having breakfast and reading the papers. Having booked a chalet based ski holiday several weeks before we were obviosly very excited to see your article about young budding entrepreneurs who'd given the chalet industry a shake up and were making a real success of things (Meet the next generation on chalet hosts, 17th Jan 2009) Fast forward 8 months to August '09 and following one disaster of a holiday (not with any of the companies you featured!!), two trips to France to view property, several trips to the bank, a lot of hard work, a bit of luck and many sleepless nights we are now taking the plunge ourselves and have opened our own chalet company Green Mountain Chalets. Our aim is to provide a friendly and completely flexible holiday package where your hosts (ie my wife and I) take the strain out of organising your ski holiday and go the extra mile to make things special. We've found a wonderful property in the three valleys that sleeps 13, put together our website and quit the ratrace in pursuit of our dream. I can't say this for sure but I'm fairly certain that had we never read about these budding young go getters making a go of things in the alps together with that awful experiance that we had ourselves that we would still be toiling in our 9-5's and not looking forward to a winter on the slopes entertaining our guests. Thanks for the inspiration James www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk

Green Mountain Chalets

20/08/09 14:44

To	"chris.moran@guardian.co.uk" , "gemma.bowes@guardian.co.uk" , "rupert.mellor@guardian.co.uk"
cc	Gemma Greenway
Subject	Inspiration

Wow, what an inspiring email in return! Good for you guys and that's so lovely that we might have in some small way influenced your move!
Sounds like a brilliant idea. Hopefully we can look into covering you guys this season!
good luck with it all, i'm sure you won;t regret it

Gemma

Contacts, contacts, contacts.

2009-08-05T06:04:00.001-07:00

There's an old saying that goes "it's not what you know, it's who you know". I've no idea who said it but I think they might have had a point.

Since I last sat down and rattled off one of these little pieces if literary genius (can you tell I'm not big into literature?) it's become more apparent that the people around us and the contacts we make are very important if we are going to make a go of this.

The first example of this is that we've already nearly filled the whole chalet for two weeks next season via family and a group of friends who have booked. We've also had numerous enquiries from friends of friends who have heard about us on the grapevine. These enquiries are positive and for premium weeks (Christmas, new year, half term etc) - it'd be great to look after friends of friends during this time, if we do a good job they'll tell thier friends. It just goes to show that, as they say (whoever they are) that "word does get around".

Also I'm really enjoying networking with people within the snow industry, store owners, clothing suppliers, equipment manufacturers etc and we are working on some very exciting projects that will help give the chalet and these companies some great exposure during the coming season. I can't wait, watch this space for more info....

Over and out, live long and prosper and nanu nanu.

James

The long summer months

2009-07-30T01:18:00.001-07:00

So then, apparently it's summer. Not that we'd know it. We've seen more rain than I care to remember. No chance for BBQ's, garden parties or fetes. All this means is people are looking forward to their summer holidays more than ever.

It's a also the perfect time to make sure our marketing strategy is in place and we're being as creative and thorough as possible. Having now spent several Saturdays and long evenings networking with the captains of university ski clubs, ski/board shop owners and other such people I now feel to be getting somewhere ad it's starting to pay divedends.

This work, alongside the facebook group (215 fans at the last count), marketing emails, friends putting up posters in thier shops and forwarding on emails to thier friends is now starting to bear fruit. Last week was an excellent week for enquiries - 6 in total and all for large groups over premium weeks. This together with the fact that we have bookings the first two weeks in Jan all points to a busy and positive season.

Which is all very encouraging for July. Roll in November.

Is there anyone out there......?

2009-06-30T08:22:00.001-07:00

Well were finally up and running, the contract is signed and the website is live and we've got access to this funky little tool that allows you to see where your website traffic is coming from. Analytics it's called. I think some geeks made it but they must've been nice geeks cos it's actually very useful.

It's nothing new but because I've never run a website before I wasn't familiar with it. Anyway, analytics tells me that over 350 people have viewed our site over the last week or so. 65% of those typed our address into thier browser (meaning our cards are being well distributed), 15% have come from our facebook group (Green Mountain Chalets in case you haven't found us on there yet!) and the rest finding us via emails, google etc etc.

That leads me to the point of this little tale. Not one, I repeat, not one click came from this blog. Which is disapointing. I really enjoy waffling on and writing it but it also proves that I'm talking to myself. Nothing new there then but normally I do it in a darkened room and not on the net where billions of people can see me!

Just to confirm that I am talking to nobody and to give me a little feeling if joy would whoever is reading this just click here:

www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk

That is if anyone is actually reading this.....

Oh and if anyone can help us out by forwarding on our web address to anyone they know who might be interested I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers ears

Jim

Website Address

2009-06-26T05:29:00.001-07:00

DOH....!

As someone has kindly pointed out, our web address isn't on the blog.

www.GreenMountainChalets.co.uk

There we go, it us now......

James

That's it.....

2009-06-25T11:33:00.001-07:00

No going back now, the contract has been signed. Very exciting... Just need to post it now.

I've spent all week working on the marketing. First there were a few tweeks to do on the site and then it's been a full on sales push. People have been so generous, offering us all sorts of opportunities to advertise in places that will really help us get the logo recognised. The response on facebook has been good and damn it I een think I understand Twitter...!

Another day of getting things sorted tomorrow and then a quiet weekend. Can't wait.

It's been a lot of hard work and extremely stressful to get to this momentous stage. Now the real hard work begins.....!

Nearly there.

2009-06-19T03:04:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a frantic week but damn it I think were actually getting somewhere.

We've gone live on facebook which was a challenge in itself (although it is generating plenty of interest so it's doing it's job. 70 odd fans so far). Working with Mr Jagger our web designer who must have the patience of a saint to actually put up with our emails in the middle of the night asking him to change the third word on the fourth line on the sixth page. It's not far off finished now so watch this space for the address. Also we've had a lot of behind the scenes stuff to juggle. Really intersting stuff like insurance, accountants, contracts - all words that make a party rock! We've made a lot of progress.

Next week, with the site live I'll be trying to give the marketing a bit of a headstart. Making sure were on websites, intranet systems, internal company notice boards and anywhere else we might pick a booking up from.

Watch this space for that all important address.

James

First ever blog...

2009-06-16T06:44:00.001-07:00

Well as you may have gathered I am very new to all this blog malarky and I'm not too sure what I should put here or more to the point who's going to read it...

I suppose I should start by telling you a little bit about us and what we are doing. I'm James and along with my wife Gemma we have started a company called Green Mountain Chalets. We have been working on this project since March and are now in advanced stages of getting contracts signed.

We will be offering ski accomodation in one of the nicest chalets I have ever seen in the Alps, cosy, clean, modern but with origional features and we aim to look after absolutely anything that our guests may require - everything from pre ordering your ski pass or getting you an extra pillow to cooking for you and showing you the best runs on the slopes.

This is a real adventure for us, moving to France and working in the hospitality industry but not one we are taking lightly. We will run GMC as a business and the sole purpose of GMC will be to make sure you are impressed and want to return year after year.

Keep an eye out for future updates.

James

Green Mountain Chalets

2009-06-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Green Mountain Chalets!

We provide family friendly catered ski chalet accommodation in the heart of the Three Valleys,the largest ski area in the world!

We offer a tailor made service to ensure that our guests make the most of their time in the French Alps. We carry out all the 'pre-holiday' preparation to allow you to enjoy as many hours out on the slopes as possible!