Les Ruches, Les Carroz, France - 360 Sun and Ski

This last winter we (my wife, 2 children aged 5 and 7) and another family of 4 (children aged 1 and 4) stayed with a small company called 360 Sun and Ski in Les Carroz, France. We chose them becasue on their web site they claim to be family specialists and also offer free children's places all year. It sounded too good to be true. But in fact they actually undersell what they offer!

360 Sun and Ski is run by an English couple with 2 teenage girls and have been in business in Les Carroz for 10 years. Caroline handles all the admin and manages the childcare with their English nanny, and Nick does the cooking - more about which later!

Before we came Caroline was so helpful in guiding us through the pre-booking of ski hire and lessons, and was able to advise on the most economical lift passes - when we arrived everything was ready for us - the ski hire shop had all our equipment ready so it was just a question on trying the boots for size and comfort and that was it.

A big plus for us was that they offer in house childcare - which meant that when leaving the little ones in the morning we could just "fade out" whilst the nanny played with the children - no tears or tantrums meaning that my wife was happy escaping for the day. Caroline picked up our childen from the ski lessons and brought them back to the chalet for lunch and then they stayed with the nanny in the afternoon - not just dumped in front of a video but taking part in art and crafts (we still have the family of yoghurt pot snowmen!) or playing in the snow.

Kids tea was at about 6 pm - 2 good courses of excellent home-made food (Mummy, why don't you make food like this?????). We then got them ready for bed and our meal was presented at 8 pm.

Now as to the food! We had been prepared for standard chalet catering; spag bol, stews, etc but Nick excelled himself in the kitchen. Every night he prepared a 4 course meal, with wine and coffee. When we were there he was offering to pass on recipes in return for a donation to their suported charity " A chacun son Everest"; a charity helping children recoving fromcancer. At the end of the week my wife had asked for 7 recipes - not bad for 6 nights worth of meals!

They have 5 family suites, each with an en-suite shower/bathroom and each suite can take up to 2 adults and 4 children in seperate rooms.

Now the bad news. Sadly they are so popular it is almost impossible to book at half term, Xmas/New Year and Easter - they have a waiting list many years long. However we have re-booked for next March already - after-all when you find somewhere where everything is perfect why risk going somewhere else.

And lastly, even though it was a poor year for snow in most of Europe, the skiing was excellent!

Their web site is www.360sunandski.com but don't hang around or you will be too late! :)

Nick and Caroline are a British couple with two daughters who have been running this chalet for families for eight years. They offer a very friendly and personalised service and the food is fabulous! Each family gets 2 adjoining bedrooms with ensuite, not luxurious but totally serviceable. They can provide cots, monitors, high chairs etc etc They do child care in a very flexible way and will take kids to ski school and pick them up for you.The resort links into Flaine so there is plenty of good skiing and carroz is a nice village with its own life - not a multistorey apartment block area like val thorens! It is a short journey from Geneva airport or an 8 hour drive from Calais.