The 'retro-modern' kitchen is a striking blend of white fittings offset by the heavy black central island – it isn't huge or a dominant feature, but it is everything you need to cook up a ten-person dinner. It is not, however, a higgledy-piggledy sprawl of jars and spoons, it is not a traditional chalet kitchen. It is an impeccably equipped and easy to use modern kitchen, the kind you might find in a penthouse apartment looking out over Tower Bridge.

As if the main chalet isn't impressive enough, there are extensive options for anyone wanting a little extra. The sauna sits six in comfort and has its own impressive shower and bathroom. The outdoor hut tub extends, literally, from the rock face. The chalet is owned by a personal trainer, and should you fancy a warm-up before skiing or have any energy left after, there is a fully-mirrored compact gym with modern treadmill, bench with a comprehensive free-weights rack, and a great view of the mountains. Want somewhere to work, to read, to relax? The chalet has internet throughout, and the top-floor office has a large desk and private balcony.

Our concierge pack what's this? is included as standard, fresh fruit and flowers a perfect complement to the chalet's superb decoration, daily housekeeping making sure everything stays as pristine as it is when you arrive.

Highly recommended: One of our transport options is a very good idea. The Hideaway is at the top of a steep and winding road that can be difficult to negotiate in the snow. If you want to pop into town for some milk, it'll take you at least thirty minutes round-trip. Let us take that hassle away tell me about this. For more information or to organise any extras, just get in touch. contact us

Cut into the mountainside of Le Coupeau, one of Chamonix's more secret locations, the Hideaway is, as the name suggests, hidden. It is also hugely impressive: the building and its contents represent a fusion of three generations of architects and a discerning, well-travelled owner, and inside, everywhere you look you will be impressed. This is a chalet built with a directive in the place of a budget: to find the best of everything available. Massive research has gone into sourcing materials, and the resulting blend of stone-walling, stainless steel fittings and beams, and countless individual features is nothing short of astonishing, a colour-coordinated blend of rustic and ultra-modern. The Hideaway is impeccable.

Do not hesitate if you want modernity with your winter break: the Hideaway is as modern as they come; if if you appreciate architecture: the use of materials is a masterclass; if you want to enjoy the company of friends and family without needing Chamonix nightlife: it's nowhere near town, but the Hideaway is a very sociable space.

Think again if you want a traditional French farmhouse conversion: this isn't it try this!; if the kids are learning to walk: the staircases aren't toddler friendly Solid Oak is; if you want to be close to anywhere: this isn't this is!.

We haven't named this chalet the Hideaway for nothing. Opposite Les Houches at the foot of the Chamonix valley, it is hidden a long way up a steep, winding road. A long way up. Though still comfortably below the tree-line, it is high enough to give a very different perspective on Mont Blanc to the one you see from the valley floor: it seems somehow both bigger and nearer, almost as if you could reach out and touch it. Apart from the occasional mountain rescue helicopter, it is just you and the mountain: the road outside doesn't go anywhere, so you won't see any traffic.

Also just a short walk from some of Chamonix's best single-pitch rock climbing, the chalet's foundations are literally carved from and bedded in the rock face which rises almost sheer behind the building. It is a fittingly dramatic backdrop that sits neatly juxtaposed with the ultra-modernity of the interior.

Various spaces in and around the chalet vie for your time and attention. The main floor holds a long hand-carved table perfect for a ten-person dinner. A luxurious sofa faces the unique central unit, housing a widescreen television directly over the log fire. Two roomy terraces give you ample outdoor space: one holds the hot tub, sun-loungers, the barbeque; the second a thick stone table solid enough for any Aslan. Where there could have been a sixth bedroom there is instead a fully-equipped office, on the top floor at the rear of the chalet, tucked away from the rest of the chalet, with its own private balcony that looks out over the hot tub terrace. Perfect for some remote work, or perhaps as a place to finally get going on that book.

While you won't fit a ten-person party around the fire and the TV – it is large enough for perhaps five or six – add in the gym, the sauna, the office, and all of the outside, and you'll find you're spoilt for choice.

The main suite is perhaps the pièce de resistance of the entire chalet, and nowhere is the attention to fine detail more evident. It is all impressive: the huge bed; the standalone bath behind its up-lit glass shield; the custom cut electric blinds; the zebra-effect of the stained larch flooring; the three-tier insulation of the balcony doors. You will find perfection everywhere you look - which includes out of the window: for all that the room is wonderfully thought out, its best feature is six miles away. From the bed, from the bath, from the balcony, from this room Mont Blanc is totally compelling.

Though the master bedroom takes the cake, the least of the bedrooms would be at home in a top hotel. There are five in total, all doubles, and each displays the same astonishing attention to detail and exhaustive search for the perfect materials that is so evident throughout the chalet. Stainless steel light fittings provide luminance without glare. Ambient low-lights over the beds pop out of the wall to become adjustable reading lights.

The sense of being in a chalet that sits cut into a mountainside is accentuated by the dramatic granite walling of the bathrooms. There are two on the ground floor (one serves the sauna), two on the middle level - one for the hot tub, one shared between the two rear bedrooms - and two on the top floor, both ensuite. The rooms are simple, sleek, elegant. Perfectly finished.