Annoushka Ducas ski guide for Saint-Martin-de-Belleville

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The special thing about Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is that, despite being part of the world’s largest ski area, it is a virgin French mountain town. You have cows and goats; There is a church and a town hall. The locals live here and there are agriculture in the summer. That is quite unusual now, particularly in Les 3 Vallées, which has become so commercial.

First we visited because a friend of ours had bought a villa here. She said: “Come, look, could love him.” And she was right. We had been looking to buy a villa in Méribel and several other places, but it was indescribably expensive. Our absolute criteria was that we wanted to ski and ski, not climb to a car, put all its kit and find that a child left a glove, blah, blah. We have had Floralie villa for 16 years this year, and we also rent it.

Les 3 Vallées has 600 km of races, not counting the massive quantity on the off track. Sixteen years later, I have barely touched the sides. Therefore, it is a very exciting place in terms of its possibilities. Saint-Martin has easy access to Val Thorens, which has some of the highest skiing in Europe: it rises to 3,200 m. Our villa is perhaps a two -minute walk to the bubble elevator that takes him to Méribel, and it’s about 40 minutes to get to Val Thorens in Esquís.

The Belleville Valley is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of Les 3 Vallées because you have the sun all afternoon. My favorite career is Jerusalem, which is incredibly undulating and continues for years. We also do a lot desolate, where you put skins, which would have been Seal Skins once, but now they are synthetic, under your skis so you can climb the mountain and reach places that nobody else can. Our wonderful guide in Elite Ski Team will call me in the morning and say what team I need to bring, depending on the conditions. Then we will go somewhere out of piste with glorious dust and without people. I am not very interested in skinning for more than two hours, you are walking uphill! But we will stop at the top to have a drink and some nuts maybe before putting our skis and enjoy the wonderful fresh dust until the end. Then you feel you deserve your lunch.

Often we are going to chez pepé nicolas in lesuirires when we have had a good ski skiing: it serves very simple Savoyard food. Or we will ski Couchével, where there is a fantastic restaurant, Cave des Creux, in the middle of the piste. They have the best Buddin table that you have seen in your life: Tarte Aux Framboises, Tarte Au Citron Meringuée, Crème Brûlée. And at the top of the mountain that binds to Méribel and Saint-Martin, Maya altitude has a fantastic terrace overlooking the Belleville Valley. Wherever you go, the Plat du Jour – Some type of saucepan or whiten of Veu (veal stew) – It is usually the best to do, and fries are delicious. I normally ask you to take the bread basket or it is a disaster.

In Saint-Martin, the Lodji hotel has a restaurant on the terrace that is ideal for Après-Ski. It has concerts and a piano bar, and the best part is that it is stumbleding with the distance from home. On the outskirts of the town is La Bouitte, an incredible restaurant with two Michelin stars to which many people from Courchével Esquís. (You used to be able to enter, but I think they have stopped it now). They achieve as much as they can from the Belleville Valley, and also have a spa. A good massage is important when you are skiing. I have a lovely woman called Zoe in Hero Massage, who comes to me.

During spring and summer you can walk, cannons and mountain cycling. You have those electric bicycles that make everything quite easy. There is much to do. But the curious thing about the Alps is that it does not matter to which time of the year passes, they have Christmas trees throughout the year, illuminated. Even in Easter. There is something quite charming about that.

Part of what I love about skiing is that we are all so busy, but when you are skiing, you must be completely concentrated in what you are doing. It seems incredibly relaxing. There is nothing that makes me feel better: exercise, sun … even cold. The feeling of returning home at the end of the day and taking a fast doriction after a cup of tea. All my children have skied since they were very young, so it is something we do together as a family, which is just a joy. It is not better than that.