I need a Chalet School fix

@BoffinMum waving at you from the Sporthotel (sadly leaving today) and agreeing with you on the loveliness of the Achensee and staying here (we’ve been a few times, originally on a MN recommendation!). I’m impressed you managed to stay low carb here though.

We once walked round the whole lake. It took about eight hours including a couple of breaks but was so beautiful. But going up into the mountains is a great way to capture some Chaletian energy.

My own DD can’t bear the Chalet School sadly. She thinks it’s dull.

Lovely photos BoffinMum. So jealous.

Definitely going to plan a trip to Achensee at some point.

@chouxpetitfilous - I have the books - if you pm me your email address, I’ll send them over!

Just found this thread, is anyone willing to send me the kindle link please?

It sounds lovely and I'm enjoying your pictures and descriptions of the place. I used to love the Chalet series and I still dip into them for a comfort read.

Sadly no buttery potato balls, as I am low carb!

DS said, ‘This is like mum’s Dr Who really, isn’t it?’ as we did a pilgrimage to those locations recently. It actually feels a bit less thrilling than I would have thought, visiting the sites. More like historical research. The younger me would have found it more exciting, I think. Perhaps the absence of Austrian farmers’ wives wearing dirndls round every corner, and neat little Englishwoman in impeccably tailored tweed suits and well-loved leather walking boots, has something to do with that. If everyone wears GoreTex and drinks Aperol Spritz while checking their phones all the time, it feels less geographically distinctive 😁 That having been said, on Sunday we walked up a mountain and there was a women’s folk group randomly performing choral music with gentle yodelling on the sun terrace while we all ate our Wurst. Very authentic!

It is certainly great fun here as this is a gorgeous part of the world and such a lovely place for a holiday. I would strongly recommend it for families of all ages.

Fabulous photos @BoffinMum thanks for posting! I'd love to visit sometime, adored the Chalet School books!

What a wonderful trip. Did you have little buttery potato balls? I love the photo from the lake. How does it feel visiting the "sites"?

Fabulous- love it! I'm hoping to brainwash DD into being a chalet school fan, then we can do a Pertisau trip together one day.

I'm still working my way through the EJO books. They are getting odder and less school related the further on I go!

Done the boat trip around the lake today. It was terrific! Had lunch in Pertisau at the ‘Kron Prinz Karl’ (see pic). Also saw the little tourist train. Got a nice photo of Pertisau from the water.

Rebecca, your mother was right! I went to boarding school for seven years, and many girls were indeed unhappy!

I loved the Chalet school as a child. Me and my sisters read them avidly, and one wrote a fanfic in an exercise book. My mother however, attended a boarding school as a child (as a day girl) and assured us they were absolutely awful places and the boarders were all miserable. And all the teachers were sad people who missed out on getting married due to WW1.

I also read a lot of Angela Brazil.

I LOVED the Antonia Forest series. Fantastic writer.

(Just in case you are keen to visit, can I suggest you try the Sporthotel Achensee, which is at the other end of the lake. It’s a Kinderhotel and the best one we have ever stayed in, also suitable for teens and young adult offspring)

It’s a stone throw from the lake, and a big viewing platform you can climb to see further. I’ve made enquiries at Tourist Information about the history of the building as there’s not many like that left around here, there’s been much development.

It’s a stone throw from the lake, and a big viewing platform you can climb to see further. I’ve made enquiries at Tourist Information about the history of the building as there’s not many like that left around here, there’s been much development.

I've recently re-read all of Mallory Towers and most of Trebizon!!

Wow @BoffinMum thanks for posting these pictures!! That's amazing.

Oh wow @BoffinMum they're fab. Is it really close to the lake?

Another clue - next to the Post Hotel where they used to put visitors up in the books.

I think we should have a whip round and buy it, and turn it into a recreation of the original Chalet School, perfect in every detail, with holograms of the main characters (actually that might be creepy). By the way it’s also moments from a terrific lakeside bar that does fabulous Eiskaffee.

More images, including of the new house behind, and incidentally another location clue is that it is really near the water company’s technical plant for the lake, and in the books the water company takes it over when the CS moves out, if I recall correctly.

Even more. It’s basically an 18th to early 19th century farmhouse typical of the region, very near the ferry landing stage. I think the owners aren’t allowed to demolish it but just built a new house behind,

So, so envious! Thanks for posting those, @BoffinMum.

More pix as I walked around it specially to get loads of images (had to climb over a wire fence to do this but luckily nobody arrested me).

This may be the chalet that the stories were inspired by - it’s listed as such on the Tiernsee website and I agree with them that the topography corresponds perfectly.