Willow and I just got home from our stay at one of Tremblant Living‘s properties, La Grande Foret, and it was one of the most incredible times I’ve ever had away from home.
We headed up there on Monday afternoon and stayed two nights and three days. The first night my parents joined us for the night and my friend Crystal (fellow blogger at Ottawa Valley Moms) and her two kids stayed the entire time.
Monday – Arrival Day
We arrived at the house at 5pm on Monday night and the first thing we did was check out the house. The house is a 5,700 square foot house set on a 5-acre private lot in the forest about six minutes from Tremblant Village. The villa features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two large living rooms, billiards room, outdoor hot tub and fire pit, two large gas fireplaces and more. You can see a full image gallery of the villa here.
The other nice thing about the house is that it came fully stocked with everything you’d need to enjoy your stay there. The kitchen, which is a fully-equipped professional kitchen with gas stove, has everything — pots, pans, blender, mixer, cutlery, etc. so that you can do anything and everything you may want to do… including bake an entire cake!
Each bathroom is stocked with fresh towels and those wonderful little shampoos and body washes so that if you don’t remember yours, you’re not out of luck. The fire pit had a fire all ready to go and there was extra wood and kindling available as needed. The only thing we needed to bring was food and, if you were really wanting it to be a breeze, they even have a pantry stocking service available!
My most favourite part of the house was the electronic system. The entire house is wired with a few incredible features – lighting you can control from anywhere, music that you can pump into any room in the house and an entertainment system that can be accessed from any TV regardless of where you are in the space. Everything is intuitive and easy to use and it really revved up my geeky side.
So, after scoping out the house and everyone choosing their desired bedrooms, we waited for my parents to arrive and then we headed to Tremblant Village for dinner. Here’s me with my dad, my mom and Willow:
After dinner at Fat Mardis, and back at the house, we got the kids situated with a movie and my parents enjoyed the hot tub. After getting the kids to sleep, Crystal and I took our turn in the hot tub with some beverages and we unwound from the day of travel. It was perfection!
Tuesday – Full Day Exploring Tremblant
Tuesday morning was a bit of a blur as we woke up, got ready and had some fantastic breakfast. As I mentioned, since this property is fully stocked you really can make anything you’d make at home and for me, that meant a healthy and delicious breakfast of eggs and sauteed vegetables.
Maëlle, one of the Tremblant Living staff members, picked Willow and I up at 10am to take us to a few other properties that they owned. It was really neat to see the variety of what was available and the different sizes of some of the units they managed. Tremblant Living has approximately twenty properties that they manage right now and all are high-end and luxury rentals. They are gorgeous!
The units that we looked at were the Panache Mont Tremblant – 632 and the Foret Blanche. Any of these properties would be incredible to stay in. The Panache home featured amazing decor – all-white – and the Foret Blanche property had a gym and an elevator. Both amazing.
After the tour, we had a bit of lunch at the property and then we headed into the Village to get some ice cream at Creme de la Creme (a MUST if you are in the area – their cookies and ice cream are both delicious!) Once we devoured our ice cream (Willow had the Splash flavour, which is like a cotton candy / rainbow kind and I had the strawberry and the maple taffy), we headed to the Panoramic Gondola to ride to the top of the mountain.
The Gondola ride was awesome. It cost $15.20 per adult and Willow was free, because she was under five. You can also get an Activity Card, which allows you to choose three activities and save some money on your overall cost. We rode the Gondola up, which took about ten minutes to get to the top, and then we made our way to the various look-out points on the top of the Laurentians.
While we were up there, a storm began to roll in and the Gondola became inoperable. They shut it down and asked us all to go inside the building to wait out the storm. If the Gondola was unable to operate again, they would have shuttled us down the mountain in pickup trucks.
To be honest, it was one of the neatest things I’ve seen in awhile – the storm rolling in meant that we watched the clouds roll over the mountaintop and it created a creepy, surreal atmosphere that could only be experienced there.
We enjoyed some snacks in the chalet and the storm passed rather quickly so we headed back down the Gondola and headed to play a game of mini golf. Willow and I checked out the candy store, and most definitely indulged in some sweet treats, before heading back to the villa to make dinner.
The rest of the night was relaxed. We lit a fire in the outdoor fire pit and Willow, Ava, Crystal and I made S’mores until the rain drove us away from the fire pit. Before we went inside however, Ava and Willow danced in the rain and played until they were soaking wet. It was precious.
Then, Crystal and I got the kids bathed and asleep and then we grabbed a drink, fired up the gas fireplace in the main living room and did a bit of work and chatted. It was the perfect way to spend our final night at La Grande Foret.
Wednesday – Saying Goodbye to the Grand Foret
Wednesday morning was mostly spent making breakfast, packing up and getting ready to leave. Willow and I spent forever in bed in the morning enjoying the treehouse feel of the room. Neither of us wanted to get out of bed but eventually we did and we got everything ready to go.
As we drove out of the driveway, Willow asked me if we would come back to the house because she loved it so, so much and I agreed. It was the perfect vacation spot and it really felt like a home away from home.
If you are heading up to Mont-Tremblant and you’re looking for a place to stay, consider renting a place through Tremblant Living. It was the easiest experience and the most comfortable time that I’ve ever had away from home. I’d highly recommend that you try renting one of these spaces at least once.
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Disclaimer: This experience was made possible by Tremblant Living and JS Communications. While they were generous in their invitation, all opinions in this post are, and always will be, 100% my own.