La Ferme Du Soleil
Archive for category Special Events
Special Occasions and Conferences
Posted by Veroni in Special Events, Special Occasions on September 28, 2009
Since we started la Ferme du Soleil in 1998, much has been done to make it more comfortable without losing its traditional charm and simplicity.
All but one room now have their own bathrooms and there is WiFi and satellite as well as log fires.
Many of our guests have used their time at La Ferme du Soleil for special occasions such as their 21st, 50th or 60th birthdays and special wedding anniversaries.
They have also held relaxed conferences with sporting activities allowing relaxed and sometimes competitive discussions.
We offer something unique where people can come together in a relaxed, homely atmosphere and be looked after with great attention to detail according to your individual needs, in a fairy-tale environment. We can tailor-make your holiday to make it more fitting for the particular occasion, either by adjusting the menu or by helping you with some special events:-
DOORSTEP ECO SKIING
Don’t use the lifts, but set off with Jean Francois, our guide, from La Ferme in the dark with skins on your skis, a lamp on your head and breakfast on your back. As you climb to the top of virgin peaks, you can watch the dawn breaking and the bouquetin [picture] breakfasting on moss as the sun rises. Breakfast on the top of the Aiguille Vert (you deserve every crumb of your pain-au-chocolate), admire the wonderful birds of prey riding on the thermals and then ski back on virgin snow. .
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This is the most health giving sport I have ever tried…far better exercise than downhill skiing. You can feel the the oxygen go right to the depth of your lungs! Feels like every muscle has been used and although you are exhausted on your return at 10 am and need a little siesta, you feel on top of the world later!! [Link to the page on Mountain Guides]
DOORSTEP PARAPENTING (Paragliding to the English).
3 minutes away from the the Ferme is the Lachat chair lift, which whisks you up to the top and a sensational view. Renee (the guy with the mustache) from the Passagers du Vent paragliding centre will pilot you on a tandem flight, riding on some of the best thermals in France.
On landing, we can organise a snow picnic appropriate for the occasion for you…simple or sophisticated alpine fayre.
Originally I believed that this must be a sport for the young and not for the faint hearted, but I thought I must try it so I could recommend it to my guests or steer them away. I found it to be the most beautiful, exhilarating way to see the Alps!! You don’t just plop down, you ride on the thermals. It’s the nearest thing to being a bird… there are birds riding on the thermals beside you…In fact I’ve met a man who rescues depressed birds of prey from zoos and they ride on the thermals while he is parapenting!
People of every age have loved parapenting. Mel did it for her 21st. Edward Reily Collins brought all his Antique Roadshow friends to have a relaxing 60th birthday celebration. They planned skiing, raqueting and bird-watching. But once they had tried parapenting, he couldn’t keep them on the ground.
Jannie Bernays, a glamourous granny is celebrating her 60th birthday there. A perfect gift for Granny: flight and Champagne picnic for all the family to share as she glides down. Perfect for honeymooners, too. Take off on two different tandems. It is far more than an adrenaline sport – it is a truly magnificent way to see the Alps. Of course, if you get hooked you can do a 5 days course and learn to fly solo The parapenting school in Grand Bornand is one of the places that give courses. [Link to the Passagers du Vente site].
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BUILD AN ICE TABLE for you and create a celebratory environment with fur rugs, candles and celebratory food
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CREATE AN ALPINE PICNIC and transport it to a secluded or specially scenic spot for you
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Some ideas for special gifts at la Ferme
A breakfast outing with our guide on skis with skins. I gave this to my nephew for his 21st present and this is what he said! and this is him at the top of Aigulle verte
A flight on a parapente with or without a picnic as you land.
Courses
CHI QUNG [Chi Kung]
Chi Qung is the ancient art of cultivating your energy system to keep you in the optimum state of health. We have found that the Ferme du Soleil is a most ideal place to do this and we are very lucky to have a master to host a course here three times a year in October, January and June:
Sunday 11th October – Sunday 18th October 2009
Sunday 17th January -Sunday 25th January 2010
June 20th – June 27 2010
June 27th – July 4th 2010
Cost is £400 for accommodation and food and £300 each for 5 days of Chi Qung.
Participants’ wives, husbands and partners are welcome too.
FLOWER PAINTING and gold leafing and distressing on wood by Sarah Allan
A week in the mountains surrounded by the amazing Alpine alpage full of rare flowers as inspiration. Sarah who is well known for her beautiful flower painting in Crabtree and Evelyn’s shops worldwide will guide you through using the surrounding flowers to create masterpieces on wood onto anything from small objects to large armoires
Courses dates:
6th June 2010 -13th June 2010
13th June 2010 – 20th June 2010
PAINTING September 2010
I will have different artists in residence and will invite you to come and enjoy the beautiful back cloth of the Alps and enjoy painting them with the encouragement of the resident artist. I will confirm the name of the artists in the New Year. Current ideas are
Kathleen Caddick,
Isis potter to paint snowscaped on blue delft,
Jolomo,
CREATIVE WRITING Courses OCTOBER 2010.
I invite you to come and unlock your hidden talents with the help of the uninterrupted views, tinkling of cow bells, and the assistance of the artist in residence. Names to be released in the New Year. At the end of the course, we will enjoy Transhumance..the day when the farmers descend from the mountain with all their hundred of cows to winter in the valley
CHALET COOKING COURSE.
We will show you how to make the most of Regional alpine ingredients to feed people in the mountains in winter…every chalet cook should go on this! Ferme du Soleil Recipes……The best and easiest book to accompany.
Interested? Email us here
Sara Allan
Sara Allan has been exhibiting paintings of different styles for twenty years, during which time she has been constantly exploring and evolving methods most suited to express her vision.
Following a decade as a decorative special effects painter, which included painting murals, marbling, stenciling, etc, she became a still life artist, after the Dutch and Spanish tradition, using dark backgrounds to highlight and dramatise the subjects. These began as copies of old master painters such as Cotan and Zurburan, and later developed into her own compositions in the style of these earlier masters. She has also painted landscapes and, more recently, abstract paintings.”
“My training as a decorative painter has given me a fearlessness, an ability to tackle many genres on any scale, and a wide experience in all sorts of painting media. I have found great pleasure in sharing this knowledge with others, giving them the feeling that they can do it, with encouragement and few tips, which I have gathered over the years, and away they go. The aim is to start people off on their own paths of discovery.
Conferences
Posted by Veroni in Conferences on September 6, 2009
CONFERENCE CENTRE
La Ferme du Soleil is the ideal place for a group of up to 14 people to meet in private and comfort to discuss important issues
A Professor took an international conference this June and this is what they said.
(Testimonial from Cress.)
Conferences can be catered or self-catered.
Special rates are available for conferences outside the skiing season.