Cows of the Hérens Breed

Val d’Hérens – Le Chalet et le Chat

My goodness, what a full and busy day!

From the Grande Dixence Dam, Mireille drove us up another steep and narrow, winding road to the Buvette et Gîtes de Mandelon. 

The general manager, Alexandre Mannard, explained that this was a national-level subsidized pilot project in low-impact, sustainable eco-tourism. Agritourism was developed for the entire Val d'Hérens, and the gîtes (lodgings) are one of the projects.

The cozy development, set in an expansive meadow surrounded by towering peaks, is popular with hikers, nature lovers, and anyone just looking for a place to get away. It is part of a working farm and cheesery owned by a consortium of landowners who live in Val d’Hérens. 

A buvette is a refreshment bar. When we arrived, the bar’s big sundeck was busy with locals who had driven up from villages lower in the valley to have a drink, socialize, and enjoy the spectacular view while escaping the afternoon’s heat. 

Many were playing “spot the marmot” as they chatted … the alpine meadows were busy with these chubby furballs, running in and out of underground nests while whistling loudly.

The bar is attached to the end of a long barn (which normally does house animals, but these were away in high alpine pastures), and doubles as the restaurant for the gîtes.

The gîtes, in this case, are an L-shaped chalet of three adjoining units.

While the dark exterior wood siding looked aged and weather-worn, this cladding was used only to make the energy-efficient, modern building (built only two years earlier), resemble an old alpine hut or hay shed.

Each unit sleeps up to four, along with one large unit that holds up to eight. We would spend the night in one of the smaller units, or “chottes.”

Our compact unit had a spacious seating area and bathroom on the main floor.

A low-ceilinged sleeping loft, with four duvet-covered single mattresses laid side-by-side, was reached using a rather steep ladder.

Although it was very hot outside, we were surprised at how nice and cool it was indoors. On closer inspection, we noticed that most of the south-facing main floor was below grade; the small window in the loft was only a short drop to the ground.

The food in the restaurant was delicious. We later learned that Alexandre owned another restaurant for seven years, but had to give it up when his lease came up for renewal. In any event, he hasn’t lost his culinary touch. I ordered the Grande Salade Paysanne avec lardons (bacon),

croûtons, et oeuf (fried egg), while Suzanne had Macaron du Chalet (as she said after all that raclette earlier, “One can never have too much cheese!”), which came with a salad.

Both meals were fabulous.

We saw a number of locals had ordered the very reasonably priced (for Switzerland!) steak with fries, which would have been my choice if it hadn’t been so hot outside. Needless to say, there weren’t any orts left on any of our plates.

After supper, we took a short walk around the property to enjoy the warm colours of the setting sun on the surrounding peaks.

We could see why this was an ideal setting for an eco-tourism operation. Indoors, although we had plenty of hot water for showers, there was no packaged soap or shampoo. And to keep staff and labour at a minimum, we were expected to put our used towels, mattress and duvet covers into a big laundry bag before leaving.

Totally exhausted from a very active day, we fell asleep as soon as we hit our mattresses. With no other guests staying the night, I had only checked to see that our door was securely latched, but – unfamiliar with Swiss door mechanisms – wasn’t sure if it was locked.

At about 2:00 a.m., I woke to the sound of a clunk. Several seconds later, something scurried up the ladder to the loft. Thinking some wild animal had gotten in, I was readying myself to do battle as I awoke Suzanne.

Suzanne thought she must be hallucinating. She really missed our own cat at home, and never expected a purring feline to come climbing up the ladder. This “cat burglar” even wanted to snuggle up against her for the night! Crisis averted, we allowed the friendly calico to stay a bit before putting it back outside.

The next day, Alexandre admitted it was his family’s cat, and normally quite shy. He was amazed to learn that the cat was able to open doors by leaping onto the lever-latch. We were too.

After breakfast,

Alexandre drove us down the mountain to the village of Mâche to catch the regular bus back to Sion.

He told us that visitors without cars could just let him know they wanted to come by contacting him at: 41 078 617 61 69, or through his website at www.mandelon.ch, and he would pick them up at the bus stop.