About us

Nineteen Houses, Nine Valleys, One Standard

The collection was built slowly by two mountain guides and a builder who spent years staying in places that photographed well and failed on the practical details: no drying room after a wet day, breakfast at eight when the route needed a six o'clock start, a heating system that took four hours to warm a stone house, and nobody who could say whether the bridge on the high path had survived the winter. Every property we took on had to fix those problems before it was offered to anyone.

Restoration follows the same logic each time. Roofs and drainage first, then insulation behind the stone rather than in front of it, then heating designed to hold the building at a steady temperature through the winter instead of being fired up on a Friday evening. Wood stoves stay because they are worth having, but nobody depends on them. Windows are timber, floors are stone or board, and the furniture is chosen to survive boots and rucksacks rather than to look untouched in a photograph.

The people who run the houses are from the valleys they sit in — farmers, guides, retired foresters and a former ski patroller — and their local knowledge is the most valuable thing we offer. They know the state of the paths, when the refuge above opens, which farm sells cheese, where the road ices first and what the stream does after three days of rain. A share of every booking goes into the local path maintenance fund, and our teams take part in the spring clearance after snowmelt.