Mazot Les Tines

Shaded by wind-rushed birches is this upstairs-downstairs little chalet – light and bright and stylish with country furniture and modern checks. Downstairs is open plan: a roundly rustic dining table, a snug shower room, and a kitchen with pottery and timeless pine. In the cosy living area, prints hang on the timber walls and a floor-to-ceiling window looks onto the garden.

Up the wooden spiral staircase is the main bedroom with its balcony and magnificent mountain views; kids love the mezzanine with its ladder to two single mattresses. Outside in the garden, roses clamber up wooden walls, geraniums fill window boxes.

The centre of Chamonix is reached in minutes for outdoorsy shopping and summer festivals. The little red rack and pinion railway chugs you up to Montenvers for views of the Mer de Glace; head higher, and you can step ‘into the void’ at the Aiguille du Midi.