There are places that seem made to last for ever. Decade after decade, passionate men and women have developed projects around them, respecting the past but looking resolutely to the future, happy to roll up their sleeves in order to add a chapter to the history of the walls that house them.
A former dairy that has become a village grocery shop and restaurant, a saw mill where top-quality wooden skis are now produced, a chalet in the forest that has become a gourmet restaurant: we have chosen three secret addresses for you with an extra touch of character!
L’Autrefoy: an inherited love of good food
From 1932 through to the 1960s, L’Autrefoy was a dairy where Beaufort cheese was made. Its vaulted cellars with stone walls housed hundreds of wheels of cheese that exuded the fruity odour characteristic of the ‘Prince of Gruyère cheeses’.
From 2023, the venerable establishment continued to be guided along its gourmet path by its new owners, Arnaud and Marie-Cécile Defayet. Farewell to the dairy, hello to the grocery store-café-wine cellar-restaurant! The Beaufort cheese is still there, but it now sits alongside many other specialities: regional and local fresh produce, organic bread, wine and spirits, as well as tasty little dishes to eat in the restaurant at lunchtime. It’s a welcoming place that we highly recommend (as a plethora of satisfied customers have already done on Google and Trip Advisor…).
- We ❤️: the décor, with attention paid to every detail and the many nods to the past (the original old copper cauldron that was found in Fréjus and brought ‘home’, the shiny floor that looks like the wet floor would have looked in the old dairy, the wallpaper with poignant excerpts from the old register in the villagers’ own handwriting…)
- A phrase that you could have heard in 1932 and that can still be heard in 2025: ‘Just a little more patience… It’s going to be a real feast!’
📍 L'Autrefoy | Grocery shop, café, restaurant
43, place de la Fruitière Longefoy, 73210 Plagne-Montalbert
🤙 Book a table for lunch
Gueule de Bois: for the love of top-quality materials
Only someone who loves both wood and skiing could have set up shop in the old sawmill in Longefoy. In the expert hands of instrument maker and skier Manuel Chalopin, local wood is turned into skis that are both beautiful and functional, technical gems that are designed to carve the snow (rather than decorate the mantelpiece!).
On site, the machines of yesteryear (like the swing saw that used to be driven by a water wheel) have made way for modern ones (like the vacuum press in which the future skis are left for 12 - 24 hours before being shaped definitively). Time may have passed, but there is still the same obsession: to enhance a living material and remove anything superfluous.
- We ❤️: Manuel’s high standards at every level (sourcing materials, design, manufacture, finishing, etc.), whatever the order (skis, but also skates and guitars)
- A phrase you could have heard in 1970 and that can still be heard in 2025: ‘Look at this ash veneer, it’s so beautiful… ‘
📍 Gueule de Bois | Skis and stringed instruments
Former sawmill in Longefoy,73210 Aime la Plagne
🤩See Manuel Chalopin’s work (skis, skates, guitars...)
Le Chalet du Bresson: being together, that’s what matters
For nearly half a century, the Chalet du Bresson has been welcoming generations of hungry, enthusiastic cross-country skiers and snowshoe hikers. Initially, between 1980 and 2023, it was the clubhouse for the Eclaireurs du Bresson (the La Côte d’Aime ski club). The forest chalet used to be particularly lively during ‘Yeti hunt’ evenings, multigenerational snowshoe outings by moonlight that invariably ended with a drink.
Since 2024, the Chalet du Bresson has become an ultra-convivial restaurant, serving generous traditional meals at lunchtime for the great pleasure of the families who come to eat there. On the menu (which varies according to the season and Delphine’s inspiration) are dishes that simmer away on the stove, local specialities, vegetarian options, local cheeses (including sheep’s cheese made by Manon and Tim, sheep breeders who live just 5 km from the chalet) and a selection of cold meats direct from Salaisons La Dent du Villard… No frills, just great food!
- We ❤️: the dishes served steaming hot in olden-day crockery, placed directly on the table so everyone can serve themselves ‘like at grandma’s’!
- A phrase you could have heard in 1980 and that can still be heard in 2025: ‘Children! Lunch is ready!’ (Some things never change…)
📍 Le Chalet du Bresson | Traditional restaurant
Route de la Montagne, Les Pars, 73210 La Côte d'Aime
😋 Book a table for lunch
