Winter WONDER

Designer Hélène Roux's thoughtful modernisation of an Alpine ski chalet put light and warmth at its core

- RUTH CORBETT

Some might say Courchevel and Verbier have more cachet, but the tiny ski town of Megève in the French Alps gamely holds its own against its glitzy neighbours.

Its fairy tale ski trails, Michelin-starred restaurants and chic shopping parades were part of the appeal to the ski-obsessed English couple and their family, who in 2007 bought a ramshackle, wooden farmhouse here: a second home that they knocked into basic shape and enjoyed across many winters, and summers, before inviting interior architect, Hélène Roux, of Les Montagnardes, to take on the job of full renovation.