Category: your holiday

We miss you.

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 22nd February 2021

Mountain Utopia guests smiling after a great day on the slopes

We miss you all. It’s been over 11 months since we waved our last group of guests goodbye. It’s been a strange forced sabbatical for us. Sure, we are enjoying the time off, the morning coffees in bed and a spot of ski touring here and there, but..

Truth be told, we miss you all a lot. Seeing how much your kids have grown (and some of them are taller than me now, judging by the photos). We miss the cuddles and catch ups. You know for us it’s all about the little things. Like seeing your eyes light up when we serve you your favourite dish or when we ask you what cake would you like today. We love sharing our new cooking skills with you. The laughs with the kids helping decorate the cake. All the snow men (and women) and the snow mice and snow turtle too. The competitive sledging. We buzz of hearing all about your day’s adventures on the slopes. We miss the wholesome joy of conversation over a cuppa and a slice of cake. And enjoying a film or a board game and cheeky glass of wine with you at the end of the day.

While we are keeping busy with our mini farm, we are already planning and preparing for the next winter. And while we know it’s going to be different, we are adamant at making awesome. We are working out the fine details to ensure we can offer you the service you love, the safety we all need and flexibility you desire, so watch this space. New exciting things are coming. We are looking forward to welcoming you all again at Mountain Utopia and can’t wait to be part of your awesome holidays in the mountains again. So, stay safe and healthy and hopeful and see you again soon.

From Mountain Utopia

with love,

T&t

environment ramblings travel your holiday

Decisions, the future, the now.

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 15th August 2020

Right then, we have some big news for you. We have decided to take this winter off from running the chalet. Don’t worry, we are not going anywhere. To tell the truth, we are buzzing with excitement. Both are really looking forward to telling you what we’ve learned in the last few months and are going to learn in the months to come. But… first things first:

Our mission is to provide you with the best holiday experience ever, while ensuring everybody’s safety in our care. We simply didn’t find a way that wouldn’t compromise either. I would like to take a moment to explain the most important reasons behind our decision:

Our service.

As part of due diligence we must take extra precautions like PPE, room fogging and UV sanitisation or sterilising duvets, which we are perfectly happy with. However, a ‘no hugs’ policy, ‘no guests allowed in the kitchen’ policy, having to remove all the soft furnishings, ‘unnecessary’ decorations, plants, toys and books (while perfectly understandable and necessary) wasn’t something we wanted to do. These are all important aspects of the holiday ambiance and what makes Mountain Utopia a home from home. We cannot fully comply with the regulations and provide our customers the experience our guests know and love at the same time. We don’t want to operate at a distance and in segregated manner. Mountain Utopia is and always will be personal. We want to be able to enjoy your company, not hiding in our kitchen behind screens!

Health.

We all need to keep away from each other to stay safe at the moment. The personal relationship and close contact with our guests is essential to what we created at Mountain Utopia and a risk we cannot take. At the same time, I simply couldn’t tell a 6 year old boy, who’s been visiting us every year (even before he was born, in his mummy’s belly) that he cannot come and give me a hug.

Travel insurance.

Insurance companies are not offering travelers adequate cancellation cover related to Covid19 for their holidays. They are shirking their responsibilities leaving us to underwrite the holidays ourselves. This could leave both us and our clients out of pocket, if any closures or travel restrictions were imposed making it impossible for the guests to attend their holiday.

Fear not, we are not done! By not operating this winter, we can mitigate those risks and ensure we can welcome you all at Mountain Utopia in the years to come. We just need to wait for a vaccine.

We are sad that we won’t be able to host you this ski season. We were really looking forward to seeing all your happy faces, filling your bellies with home cooked delights and your hearts with joy.

It is not a gap year for us, far from it! Although, we might enjoy a few more lay-ins. We are going back to school. Working on improving our cooking skills, growing organic food, foraging, making preserves, raising chickens, exercising our French language skills. We are just about to start an 8 week online pastry course. I am also developing new, eco-friendly cleaning and hygiene products. (I have just made myself a beautiful moisturising face wash. It is gentle, biodegradable plus it feels and smells divine. I am very proud of this one.)

The planet has shown some signs of recovery during the mass lock down and nature here in the mountains is thriving. It gave us inspiration and the time to reassess all our processes and supply chains. We aim to minimise the negative environmental impact and offer you highest quality, fair-trade and organic products. We will keep you posted on all of those, obviously.

We are not trying to diminish the suffering and struggle this pandemic has inflicted all over the world. We feel incredibly lucky to have avoided this illness ourselves so far and those members of our family, who have had it, have recovered. We are counting our blessings every day and while we wait for the vaccine we will do whatever is in our power to make the world a little kinder, safer and healthier place one day at a time.

Can you please let us know what changes you would like to see in the future of skiing holiday? Tell us what would make you feel more comfortable when staying with us and travelling in general. Don’t be shy, give us a call or drop us a line. We need all your good ideas plus we would love to hear from you!

We would like to send you our kindest wishes and hope you have a peaceful day. Massive virtual hugs to you all.

Tamara and Toby,

From Mountain Utopia with love.

morzine your holiday

Happy, healthy Easter everyone!

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 12th April 2020

It’s definitely a strange one for us. We are sure it’s a bitter sweet one for most of you, too. There’s no egg hunt here for the children, there’s no babka. No way to share a beautifully decorated hard boiled egg with your family. Yes, I am fully aware that some of the Polish traditions will seem pretty odd to most of you, but still. 🙂 In keeping with the spirit of this occasion, let us focus on the good things. The spring is here, fruit trees are blossoming and birds are singing. The weather is amazing, and fuzzy bumble bees have awaken from their long winter’s sleep. Let’s spend today making the food we love and talking with nearest and dearest on the phone or video chats. Let’s plan the feasts and celebrations, that will ensue when we are able to hug each other again. We can get through this together. We wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful Easter. Stay home. Stay hopeful. Eat chocolate.

ramblings your holiday

Stay home. Stay safe. Stay hopeful.

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 17th March 2020

Well, that’s a kind of end to the winter that nobody has expected. The resorts are shut, France and most of Europe is in lockdown and I guess UK will follow suit in the next few days. The big nasty virus has certainly taken the humanity at large by surprise. And while we’re gutted that the ski season has been brutally cut short, we wholeheartedly agree with the government’s decision to shut the lifts/restaurants and any public gatherings. Yes, it is scary and it will cause a lot of pain and chaos. No, we don’t know what the future will bring. But we honestly believe, that we can get through this together. So for everybody’s sake, please do what the WHO recommends and save lives. I would like to take a moment to say thank you, to every single one of you that has shown us your support and solidarity. We are truly sorry to those of you that have lost your holiday because of this pandemic and we will do anything in our power to help you in your travel insurance claims. We have received so many lovely messages and calls from our past guests and those who haven’t had a chance to experience Mountain Utopia’s hospitality yet, because of this crisis. They have moved us deeply, at times to tears. It was an incredibly difficult few days for us and your words made us love what we do so much more. If there is one thing that we can assure you of, it is the fact that we are absolutely determined to make your ski holiday even better and are looking forward to welcoming you in our chalet next winter. Thank you all for being in our life. We will forever be grateful.

morzine skiing your holiday

Ready, steady..go!

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 15th December 2019

Here’s to another awesome winter! We are really looking forward to this one. The snow is great. We’ve been out and conducted the quality control checks for you and let me tell you, it’s pretty sweet out there. Avoriaz opened 2 weeks early, and Les Crosets 3 weeks before schedule. We had the pleasure to sampling some incredible powder and the great depths of it that are already on offer. We can’t wait to welcome some of our regular guests, who by now feel more like friends and family to us. We’re also thrilled about meeting in person all the new arrivals at mountain utopia. It’s interesting how you build a relationship with people over the phonecalls emails and through social media, so then when it finally comes to meeting face to face, it feels like you’ve known each other for a long time. We’re super happy to tell you that Emma will be joining us for the second season in Morzine. Our hostess with the mostest, flapjack baker extraordinaire and our fabulous assistant is back to help us make your holiday even more enjoyable. So, what’s new? you might ask. And there are a few things. Not in any particular order: * We have bought a second minibus and that means that all of the guests can set off for the lifts at the same time if they would like to. No more waiting around. * New upgraded recycling system. We intend to sort all the landfill materials in house and find the recycling centers that can take them. Think: wine corks, CD’s, crisp packets etc. It’s a big project, wish us luck. * New, extra large bath sheets. Because we care and listen to you. And if you want to wrap up in a big towel, we will get you your big towel and make sure it is luxurious and fluffy. * Brand new exciting menu, inspired by our travels. We’ve been working hard all summer, honing our skills catering for weddings, filling in top end restaurants and running galleys on luxury barges. Trust me when I say this, we’ve acquired some awesome new skills that we’ll be using to spoil you rotten throughout your stay with us. I’m sure there will be a few more things you might notice, new pieces of art and decor, new board games and bits of tech.. not to mention the new lifts and ski runs waiting for you.. but let’s not reveal it all. Otherwise we might spoil the fun of discovery.

food and recipes your holiday

Food, glorious food.

Post author By Tamara Bienkowska
Post date 7th April 2019

It’s been a blast of a winter and we now know for sure, that going back to running just one chalet was the best decision we have made since starting Mountain Utopia. We are having the time of our lives and our guests are enjoying our undivided attention. The 3 cherries on top are being nominated and shortlisted for Morzine Source Awards in 3 different categories – Favourite Accommodation, Favourite Customer Service and Best Food! We are so happy and incredibly grateful to all of you, who have voted for us. Wish us luck on Tuesday.

You all know just how much we love food and how important it is both in our job and in private life. We are having a lot of fun in the kitchen together, constantly thinking up new dishes and perfecting the old favourites. It’s so awesome to have the time to consider each dish and create seasonally changing menus tailored to our guests’ needs and desires. I get to forage on a regular basis and we both learned new food preparation techniques. Making yoghurt, sous vide cooking; curing and dehydration, and decorative pastry skills are just a few of our new favourites.

We have found our own blend of flavours, combining each of our heritages and the aromas we have discovered on our travels. Toby has perfected ‘The Best Carrot Cake in the World’ and a few extraordinary new main course dishes. I created the Kampot salt and peppercorn Panna Cotta, and feel I have levelled up my rainbow beetroot carpaccio as well. Working with food together is a source of great joy to us. Continuously experimenting, challenging each other’s ideas keeps things exciting.

We’re always happy to share our passion and skills and offer the kitchen secrets gladly to you all. The trouble is, we don’t really have anything written down and rarely use scales or measuring jugs… so… Our apologies to those of you who are waiting for recipes, we’ll work on that.

your holiday

Exciting times ahead

Hello and welcome to the Mountain Utopia Blog,

We won’t lie, it’s been a while since we have written one of these. Not that we don’t enjoy writing. We simply never had the time! Sure, we know that running catered chalets keeps you busy. And if you want to give the best personal service to all your guests in two chalets, something’s got to give.

The price we had to pay to fulfil our ambition and deliver what we offer, was our time. With the chalets full every week of the season, we found ourselves spending more and more time in the office. Working out the logistics, writing menus, rotas and schedules, book keeping and responding to countless emails. If you met us, you know we don’t mind admin work, and that we’re pretty good at it. Ensuring that each and every guest experiences a holiday that runs smoothly and caters to their every need gives us kicks, no doubt about it. It was our busiest winter, and judging by all the 5* reviews we received from our guests, it was also the most successful one. We are very thankful to our team, partners and all our guests, it is you who made it so.

At the end of April we were so tired, we both knew that something had to change. I missed spending time talking to the guests in chalet Adonis, as I was tied to chalet Azalee as the head chef most hours of the day. Toby didn’t get to cook at all, and really missed the creative time in the kitchen. We both missed skiing.

But that was last year. Since then a few things changed. A shift in direction, and simple maths – we’re reducing the quantity to increase the quality. This winter, after six years of running Mountain Utopia, we decided to go back to just one chalet. With myself and Toby being the chefs, hosts and drivers we can do what we do best – look after you. We also have a new, awesome assistant Emma, who will help with day to day chalet operations and shuttles, enabling us all to get our fill of the snow and the sun on the slopes.

Long story short: for some businesses to grow is to get smaller and it turned out to be true for us. We are super excited about the coming winter. Our heads filled with ideas of how to make your holiday even better. Just to give you a taste: we’ll be baking breads, making ice cream and yoghurt in house, making some great changes in our environmental policy and launching our own IPA. And that is just the beginning. We have had an amazing time traveling south-east Asia and have brought back some incredible, fresh flavours to our menu, but more about it in our next blog…

Thanks for reading, lots of love. Tamara