Morzine, Haute-Savoie, Rhone Alps, France

FOR SALE IN ST JEAN D'AULPS, PORTES DU SOLEIL NEAR MORZINE - Our much loved Family Chalet
We have owned Chalet Babar for the last 10 years and it has been our permanent home for the last 5 years. We are relocating back to the UK for family reasons and have reluctantly decided to downsize to an apartment in St Jean d'Aulps. The chalet is located a short walking distance from the centre of the village. It is about 6 km from Morzine. The chalet was constructed 20 years ago by respected local builders Dutruel.

Chalet Babar is a modern, well built family home laid out on three levels. The upper level has three good size double bedrooms (two with balcony) and a family bathroom. Two of the bedrooms are superking size and the third is a double or twin room - we use that one as a study/teaching room/TV room. The middle level has a big open plan living area with a kitchen off it and double doors and a picture window onto the garden and two further double doors onto the balcony with a view towards the River Dranse. It also has access to what was originally the garage but now comprises a sauna, laundry/ski room, and bike store with a loft storage area above.

The lower level has a very large double bedroom (superking +) with double doors onto the large decking area, very large bathroom, open living area with kitchenette and separate lobby/boot room/study with external door. We have lots of outdoor sunny/shady spaces depending of the time of day. There is a big decking area on the lower level and a lawned garden on the middle level. We spent a lot of time landscaping the exterior and it works really well and looks lovely. There is a small stream running through the garden and round the edge of the property. It varies between a trickle and a bubbling brook depending on rainfall up the mountain. There is an additional smaller decking area to the side of the house with tool store and gardening equipment storage.

Although very accessible It's very private, our garden and terrace are not overlooked and we are in a small quiet culdesac/impasse of 11 houses with lovely neighbours - French, Dutch, Irish, Scottish and English. Snow is cleared by the commune's snow plough in winter so access is not a problem. The land between us and the river is not constructible so nothing can be built there.

It's a short walk (5 minutes) into St Jean for shops, bars/restaurants, medical centre, pharmacy and school/college. The chalet has tarmac driveway parking for up to 6 cars and it's cool in summer and and warm in winter. The main bus stop for buses to Thonon/Morzine is 5 minutes walk away, and the stop for the free winter bus service up to the ski station is also 5 minutes away. There is a good professionally built bike pump track a few minutes away.

Chalet Babar also has the "Snug" - an outdoor but under cover seating area which we use all year round for entertaining - open in summer and in winter it has heavy weather proof curtains and infra red heaters.

The Seytroux - St Jean - Morzine - River Dranse footpath is right by the chalet but shielded from us by trees and bushes - giving immediate access to walking by the river in both directions - very pretty with cool shaded walks in summer. The lovely Ranch des Portes Du Soleil stables is just down the hill from us. The extremely ugly derelict sanitorium which was on the main road and in view from the chalet has finally been demolished and some smart high end apartments are now being built in its place. There is no way anything can be built around us so our great views of the mountains all around are protected. Chaet Babar is named after Babar the Elephant because one of its views is down the valley to The Elephant's Head rock formation.

it would be possible to configure the lower floor as a separate large 1 bedroom apartment if you wished which would be readily rentable. We had a family of Ukrainians using it as a separate apartment for eight months last year.

Heating is all electric with underfloor heating to the main living area and electric radiators elsewhere. The hot water tank is 300 L electrically heated and was replaced last year. Our monthly bills with EDF are approximately 360? - these are based on last year when we had our Ukrainian guests and we have a young son (now 3) so the washing machine and tumble dryer were getting heavily used. There is also a wood burning enclosed fire in the main living space which is incredibly effective. The chalet is connected to mains drainage. Water charges were 603? in 2022. Tax Foncieres in 2022 was 1135?. Tax d'Habitation was 0 as the chalet is our main residence.

The chalet has a habitable surface area of 122 square metres. This excludes areas in the upstairs bedrooms in the eaves (under 1.8m height) and excludes the laundry/ski room/sauna as these were originally part of the garage. It also excludes what was originally a cave downstairs but which now forms part of the open plan living space. Note that the ski room/sauna area could readily be converted back to the original garage configuration if that was your preference. Our plot (cadastral plan reference 395) is 635 square metres.

The chalet is well built and low maintenance. We have never had any problems with it.

We are on Orange broadband which is very reliable and pretty fast. We also have UK satellite TV. There is a big flatscreen TV in the main living area which is on a motorised lift and drops out of sight when not in use. Plus a full 5.1 surround system all wired in. There are additional TVs in the Snug and downstairs and in the upstairs study. There is Philips Hue smart lighting in the living area, Snug and stairwell. There is garden lighting set on automatic timers. The garage/bike store door is electrically operated. We have a garden water storage system which keeps filled from the stream 3 x 300L water butts

If you are not familiar with St Jean d'Aulps its a great little community with a real year round population, lots of young families and a really nice vibe - and a good little supermarket and several restaurant/bars including Alba and the Bar Nationale both of which are excellent. There is a pharmacy and medical centre both of which are very good. St Jean has its own delightful compact ski area a few minutes drive or bus ride up the mountain - great for beginners or a cheeky ski when you are pressed for time, or when there is fresh powder as it doesnt get skied out too quickly. Its on the PDS ski pass but does not link in to other resorts which keeps it quiet. The main Portes de Soleil access (at Ardent with free parking) is a 15 minute drive away. Col d'Encranaz is also about 15 minutes and always has free parking available and gets you straight into the Mont Chery side of Les Gets which is highly recommended.

Geneva Airport is a bit over an hour away by car. St Jean to Calais by car is 8-9 hours driving if you stick to the speed limit and only stop briefly - after the first 30km its motorway all the way. Morzine town is a 10 minute drive, and Les Gets is a 15 minute drive. Lake Geneva is about 30 minutes away with Thonon Les Bains on the lake being our nearest big town. Geneva centre is about an hour away.

IChalet Babe is now being marketed for us by Alpine Property. PPLease contact Ailsa Bishop there for more details, viewing etc

Chalet Babar is offered for sale at 695,000 euro.

What Three Words location is emigrate.denture.classed

(note Google Maps and some other mapping apps incorrectly name our road Clos du Pont - it is now called Impasse Rives de Dranse)