Chalet Ambiance, Sainte Foy - Premiere Neige

I have stayed with Premiere Neige a few times, and I have to agree with Carrie - the creche makes your holiday so much simpler! The kids like going there so I get to ski all day without worrying about them. The nannies are great and we have always liked Premiere Neige's properties (we've never stayed with anyone else in Ste Foy). Ste Foy is a fab resort for families - highly recommend it to anyone.

This was our first self-catering skiing holiday and I have to admit I was apprehensive, but we had a wonderful time. Sainte Foy is a tiny town, more of a hamlet really, but has everything you need, good ski hire shops, a decent small supermarket, a pizzeria and bar and a handful of restaurants. The resort is three hours from Lyon or Grenoble, but the mini bus had a dvd player - so that helped! It's only 2 hours from Chambery and if you get the train, a matter of 15/20 mins, so that's an option worth considering.

Once in the resort everything is just a short walk away from the slopes/ centre. The Premiere Neige team have lots of chalets in the resort - some catered some self-catering and are experts on the area, so whether you're a first timer looking to find your ski legs or an expert looking for off piste action, they can tell you where to ski/ eat /hire skis etc. The other big bonus is the childcare - experienced native english speaking nannies with small ratios and the option for full or half days in a central creche. The staff are lovely and caring and offer good quality activities - my normally clingy two year old settled in very quickly. The creche is right next to the ski shop (where you can leave skis and boots) so you can wander up in comfy shoes, drop the little one(s) off , jump into your skis and you're literally 50 m from the first lift.

When we were there there were only 4 lifts, but there were plans for another one and the ones that were already operating were remarkably uncrowded - as were the pistes. We went with ESF and as ever this just depends on which teacher you get. My son loved it, my daughter had a less good time, but there are other options for ski school and the concierge service at Premiere Neige will happily help you with this.

The chalet was cosy and well equipped and you can pre-order food, drinks, even nappies to be waiting for you when you arrive. You can even have a bread/ croissant delivery in the morning and can pay to have a change of linen midweek. Having planned on eating out every night we ended up havinng simple home-cooked suppers and spent most evenings in by the roaring fire watching DVD's (some supplied by premiere neige, some brought with us). This is not the resort for anyone looking for apres-ski and a different piste every day (though for the experienced skier there's a lot of off-piste available), but for a chilled, family-friendly chalet experience, it couldn't better it .... and we're going back!