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Along with the great outdoor activities we offer here at Chalet Martin in the Summer, we also have some great local events to get drunk at! Or if you prefer, a place to enjoy extraordinary musical talent – I am of course referring to the annual Montreux Jazz Festival!

This is an amazing 2 week event that is situated on the stunnning Lac Leman (Lake Geneva to you & I!), which holds everything from Jazz of course to dubstep. Why is this different to the average music festival? Well for a start so much of the festival is free, you only pay for individual acts you want to see, which makes it as cheap as you want it to be. Big names that played for free last year included Friendly Fires and this year Alex Clare. Another difference from your average festival is a refreshing dip in the lake which is on offer for free at any time during your Jazz trip (although not recommended if following a large comsumption of alcohol!). The most important difference I would have to say would be the fact that you can return to Chalet Martin for a shower and uninterrupted sleep to recharge – almost unheard of at any other festival!

So let’s recap on my (Bridget Jones) 2011 Montreux Jazz experience! I made it down there more times than my wallet really felt necessary!

I managed to lose flip flop x 1 (yes, yes just the one, not all sandals float!), 1x phone battery, 1x wallet(!), 1x 200 CHF (this is why my wallet was so hurt!), 1x driving license, 1x return tram ticket to Gryon, and 1x orange lighter!

But what I did gain far outweighed the losses – great times, great music, great memories!

There’s still another week of the festival left this year so get yourself over here! I’m heading there on Tuesday and will be reporting on this year’s experience (this time I’ll wear trainers and will hopefully be returning with BOTH of them!!)!

www.montreuxjazz.com

It’s been a while since the last Blog, ‘Snow’ but even though we are now way into the Summer, there are still snow patches on the top of the hills – just goes to show how GREAT the Winter season was!

This Summer so far has been pretty fabulous – 30 degree days are not unusual and a great for an excuse to head to the lakes for swimming and cooling off. The average mid 20s have been perfect for hiking, climbing and mountain biking and we’ve had lots of guests coming through that have been keen to do all of the above. There are so many easily accessible walking trails in this area with stunning scenery and views of the mountains that surround us. The valley of Solalex is a popular destination with the impressive Mira de l’Argentine overlooking the restaurants, which are a welcome stop to refresh or for a typically Suiss summer evening of fondue!! For the more hardcore, overnight stops in mountain refuges means a rewarding sunrise at the top of the world!

There are loads of climbing and bouldering sites (as well as our new bouldering room in the Chalet to practice your moves!) and we’ve had some really great days ‘sending’ routes on some really interesting cliff faces. The evening bbqs have been fun, making the most of the gorgeous summer sunsets and great friendships have been forged around the chalet pitfire.

So to the Jumping! We’ve had some very beautiful equine visitors recently in Villar sur Ollon. From the 5-15th July there are National and Regional show jumping competitions as well as demonstrations in equestrian sports such as dressage, and displays of “Hungarian Post” (a discipline in which a rider stands with one foot on each of two horses) and Quadrille des Milices Vaudoises (Vaud Militia Horsemen). This is a free event and has returned this year after its very succesful premiere in 2011. Villars has a very festive feel at the moment and with the build up to the Olympics the Jumping is a good accompaniment to the Summer of sport!

Winter at Gryon 2012 has been amazing its snowed and snowed and snowed!!! Here is what we have been up to.

The deck out side the chalet...

Fun in the snow....

Good Food!!!

The Beautiful Gryon Sunset…….