 Poster: A snowHead
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I've been following lots of threads about 'doing a season' or upping sticks to a ski resort. Like a lot of other people I'm deeply jealous but I think I can control that if I can convince myself that doing the same thing would be possible for us one day on the future, probably in France or Switzerland.
I've got a couple of questions though:
Is doing it with a child/children completely unrealistic? If not, what's the best age in terms of not wrecking their education? Do certain resorts have international schools?
I also like Parlor's idea of renting a self-catering apartment for a season then selling on the weeks that you don't use; anyone done that successfully, and where?
What are the other options for making a bit of money over there (Mr Marmalade is a carpenter).
I'm thinking, I wouldn't feel so frustrated if I had a 3-4 year plan, ie. do it when the twins are old enough to stay in England and just take the young 'un (currently aged 5).
Is this all unrealistic dreaming...?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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marmalade, I know frosty (not to be confused with me) did a season with the family last year. Why not send him a PM
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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marmalade, from what I read/hear from friends, I suspect you have a much better chance of 'wrecking their education' if you leave them in the UK. If you want to put them in a French school, then the younger they are the easier it will be - they will pick up the language much faster than you do.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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and they get to ski during PE lessons. how cool would that be?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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marmalade, what Lizzard said. If you choose a town rather than a resort it will have a school, like Verbier does. So children shouldn't be a problem.
Carpentry skills are always welcome in ski resorts so Mr M will find work no problem and should be able to pick and choose when he works, if he's any good 
Renting an apartment for a season and trying to make money by selling weeks means you can't use the popular weeks, you will also have to have someone in resort to go in a clean, change beds etc every week...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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marmalade, If your serious this Chalet is for sale for around a £ million it does have its own self contained appartment as well!
details here
There is a primary school in Longefoy and a senior school in Aime.
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| marmalade wrote: |
| Is doing it with a child/children completely unrealistic? |
For the last couple of years our neighbours in Les Arcs have placed their daughter in the local school for the winter term and have spent New Year-Easter in the resort. Their daughter, who is now 8, has picked up French quite quickly and settled into school with new friends very easily. The school in Les Arcs was happy to include her for the winter term, along with a small number of children from other saisonnaires.
One thing you will have to be aware of is that if you plan on being in the resort only for the winter there is no guarantee that your child's UK school will be happy to hold open his/her place on the school roll (especially if the school is over-subscribed). The school would be within its rights to remove your child from the school roll, and would be under considerable pressure from LEA and Governors to do so if there was a waiting list of other children who wanted to join the school.
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marmalade, We decided to get off the mouse wheel for five months and took our two children then four and 18 months to Morzine, France for the 05/06 winter. We rented our house in the UK out and then rented a chalet in Ardent just outside Morzine from December to May. you will need to start early to do this, I found ours 12 months before we arrived and did the deal, most agents start offering season lets between June and August in most ski towns (I think) but if you email a few chalets you like the look of that are on some of the private sites (chaletfinder etc) you will probably find something nice. The trick is to start early, don't rush and do negotiate, be prepared to walk away if its just too pricey, you'll soon get a feel for whats good a value and owners who are just chancing their luck with a high price.
Schools, our experience was limited as our eldest was only four and attended the local ecole maternelle in Montriond. He was well received, they have a few children who's first language is not French and whilst this makes communication difficult for the teachers and pupils it generally went well (for a four year old!). I'm told a lot of French mountain town schools are suffering from a decline in numbers and not unlike UK schools their funding is linked to attendance numbers, we were asked to enrol for next term at the end of our stay to keep up the numbers, we happily signed the form. You may find there are international scools in Thonon or Evian, most of the older children go by bus down to Thonon daily to attend a school there (although its not an international one), I think its a 40 minute each way trip. Lots of people harp on about childrens heads "being like a sponge" and them picking up french in "no time at all". It was not quite as harmonious as that there were a few tantrums, "Dad, I don't understand ANYTHING" type conversations but by the time we left our eldest was happy going to school and making French friends too.
Work. We saved for about two years and managed not to work. I get the impression nearly ALL building work is carried out May to September but having said that nearly all builders switch in the winter months to working on the hill as lifties or instructors, there probably would be some work available but others on this site are probably better qualified to tell you how much work you will be likely to find. We would recommend not working wholeheartedly 
Other things. We took an au pair to look after our 18 month old and occasionally collect the eldest from school, this sounds like a luxury but to to be honest if you are going to the expenses of doing a season as a family this was a minimal additional cost (its a dream job with a lift pass) she worked five days a week and two evenings babysitting. We could'nt have skied 111 days without her help 
Finally my advice, don't hesitate, don't just think or talk about it. Get on the internet now and book a chalet. I'd recommend France, we had a very warm welcome from everyone one we met, you will be surprised at how many other Familys you meet who are living out in the mountains just for a season (we thought we would be "unusual" saisonnaires, we were'nt).
My one regret, not staying for a whole year, just as we started to integrate (over used word I know but appropriate), our children had started to make friends, we knew the shopkeepers names and we were picking up the language quite well it was time to go home. From the off it had been all about the downhill skiing but by the end it was just being up in the mountains that made life nice. Please feel free to PM me if you want any more info
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Great stuff. Shows that it can be done, and the importance of using the UK residence - for most of us our main financial asset. We have converted a downstairs room in our 3 storey town house into a self-contained studio. We have a fantastic long term lodger who pays £350 a month rent (now rather below the going rate for a waterside studio with its own entrance) and looks after things, including the cat, when we are away. We still have the option of renting the main house as well, which I am considering for next season as the extra income would be very useful (anyone looking for short term accommodation on Chichester Harbour???). UK rents, in most areas, are very high and go a long way towards cost of accommodation in France (don't know about anywhere else) though it is better value to rent for a whole year, not just "the season". Few of us have the kind of financial resources to enable us to just leave a house in the UK sitting idle. I suspect that quite a few people are closing off the exciting option of spending some time abroad because they are too "precious" about their UK houses. I have an annoying sister in law who tends to make snide remarks about how "lucky" we are to be able to spend such a lot of time in the Alps. This is quite true, we are lucky, but we have also made good use of resources. When I point out that she could rent her house near the M25 for a small fortune, and take off, she says she "couldn't bear" to have anyone else living in her house and implies that my readiness to tolerate it is down to my being not in the least houseproud. OK, silly cow, you can't have it both ways! If spotless carpets are more important than a winter of skiing, that's her choice. She just spent £10K on a new kitchen; how many ski seasons would that have paid for? A season lift pass, bought before end November, costs the same as 14 days in season. Cost of living is comparable, you don't need any more ski gear for a season than you do for a week (OK, people say that a season of hard skiing will knacker a pair of skis, I guess I'm not good enough either to wear out a pair of skis that quickly, or to tell the difference). It really isn't just something for millionaires.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w, Whether skis get worn out will depend on what is under the snow. I have never hit a rock in the Espace Diamant.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We too rent rooms in our 3 bed house in Hammersmith. It covers the mortgage and makes us feel more comfortable doing what we do.
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I should add thats its a LOT easier to find an annual let rather than just a Winter let, the summer season is shorter and cheaper in alpine towns so your an attractive candidate to a landlord if you want the whole year. Incidentally we nearly rented a house in Morzine where the owner wanted to use the property for a couple of weeks in the Winter (we would have had to move out) but if you were prepared to go elsewhere for a week or two you could probably find yourself a very very good deal.....
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You know it makes sense.
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Frosty, pam w, it shows how much one can accompllsh by "thinking out of the box (house, in this case)"!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
if you were prepared to go elsewhere for a week or two you could probably find yourself a very very good deal.....
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that sounds like an extremely good idea. If you have the whole of the rest of the season to ski, doing without the frenetic weeks of the vacances scolaire is not much of a sacrifice. In our case, we swap the half term weeks, and sometimes New Year, with fellow English owners in our apartment complex - no money changes hands, but we borrow theirs in the low season.
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Poster: A snowHead
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rented a chalet in Ardent just outside Morzine from December to May
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Frosty, WOW! That would be our dream spot (but I also fancy La Clusaz) !! We stayed in Montriond (Les Sapins) and Morzine in March and really loved it. Going back next March. Do you know who owns that big empty school house next to the lake? (Fancy buying it with us?!?). As for not working at all, I'm not sure that I could spend that much time with Mr Marmalade - could end in divorce!
pam w, Anyone who's seen my house would know that I'd much rather spend my money on skiing - not even sure if it's rentable, but I'm thinking 3 years ahead here so Mr Marmalade has time to get those DIY jobs done! As we live in a popular place in the UK (Whitby) our house could probably raise a fair bit of income from holiday lets, even in Winter, but I like the idea of a tennant/cat minder. Keeping a place in a UK school wouldn't be a problem for us either as mini-marmalade attends a village school which is always looking for more kids!!
I don't think either of us have the option of taking a year out as my employer probably wouldn't go for it and my husband's business would be back to square one. Vacating the house for a couple of weeks is a great idea as we'd probably be leaving the older kids in the UK (but not home alone, I may not be house proud but I'd rather not have it trashed by teenagers), so we'd probably want to come home and see them.
I'm definately even more inspired now. Just knowing that it's a possibility might ease the summer snow withdrawl symptoms.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Overlapping with Parlor, thread a bit, but my back of envelope calculations (which are probably miles off but that's the story of my finances generally  ) suggested that if you went for somewhere not super-expensive but still reasonably attractive to holidaymakers, you could get pretty close to covering a year's interest payments if you let the property out for all of August, Christmas, New Year, Easter and February (ie all the times that someone like me who doesn't have kids and doesn't like crowds wouldn't want to be there anyway). Don't know whether anyone has experience of actually trying this would care to comment?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Frosty,
What will you do next season, won't it be really hard to go back to being 'holiday skiers', or are you planning to do it again at some point?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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FAQ
