Read a full review of Les Granges

USP The pool and relaxation area and some of the treatment rooms have beautiful mountain views if you can stay awake to see them. The lodge offers party-size boutique chalets with all the facilities of a tip-top hotel on site

AMBIENCE The use of natural materials such as oak floorboards, stone, polished slate and the mountain valley backdrop give the spa an in-harmony with the world feel about it.

There’s plenty of lounging room around the pool (which rather beautifully reflects the mountains) and its lofty arrowhead terrace and, unlike some spas, it’s all on one level so it’s easy to navigate. This is always useful I find when you’re in a spa-induced stupor and avoids embarrassing “robed in the lobby” incidents.

There are five treatment cabins, a sauna, hammam and a small gym. The products used are Comfort Zone from Italy and Dr Hauschka, which uses biodynamic and organic ingredients.

EXPERIENCE Sans consultation, I shed the salopettes for a grey bath robe and hopped into the Jacuzzi and under the pool’s hydrojet to loosen the sort of cold, hard muscles you tend to get at the end of a day’s skiing. There is no official après-ski massage, but head therapist Veronique will tailor a treatment to specific needs.

Veronique manages a small team of therapists each of whom specialises in a different area, from beautician to yoga instructor. Before arriving at Les Granges, she had been working in the Caribbean for a number of years and has, refreshingly, brought back with her some of its easy-going air not common in a field often populated with mute production-line therapists.

She thoughtfully warned me of her cold hands, checked in on minor ski bruises to be avoided and liked to say the word “tingling”. My skin was “thirsty” she said and apparently I needed a week of massages – at €120 (£85) a go, I think not. The deep-tissue massage helped to take away any next-day woodenness

IN CROWD French folk who’ve cottoned on to the fact that cool doesn’t have to mean Courchevel or St Moritz. A French brochure in the chalet guffs about the place as ideal for “new greens and metrosexuals” but the few people we saw seemed to be down-to-earth Euro families. New romantics, perhaps - a couple in our party became the first to become engaged at Les Granges and doubtless not the last inspired by its snow-capped, log-fire snugness.

FOOD The herbal tisane in the spa was served in black pots as weighty as an old-fashioned iron with a pretty twizzle stick of sugar. The restaurant has a huge two-way fireplace, splendid vistas and a contemporary European menu.

My rolled chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes was served, surprisingly, with a bar of quinoa topped with jammy red cabbage but the accompanying spring roll in a shot glass seemed a bit anomalous. Apple tart made with three types of pommes was freshly baked and a hearty pud. The €16 bargain Bordeaux was perfectly quaffable and the lardy air-dried hams as good as you’d expect in any mountain village worth its salt.

WALLET WATCH A one-hour deep tissue massage using essential oils and aromatic extracts and a choice of techniques from Californian or Chinese costs a hefty €120. Hammam body scrub and wrap rituals start at €100 for an hour, and an anti-stress facial is €90 for 50 minutes. Private yoga classes can be arranged on demand and week-long summer courses are in the pipeline. Chalets sleep eight comfortably and start from €1,630 (£1,150) per night; minimum stay three nights.

NEED TO KNOW Les Granges d’en Haut, Chamonix Les Houches, France (+33 (0)4 50 54 65 36; www.grangesdenhaut.com)

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