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Bella Coola
Love at first sight in Verbier
It is a name that whisks you away to other climes. To enlightened heli-skiing lovers, Bella Coola is a wild and majestic valley in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Here, however, beneath the typically Swiss roofs of this fabulous four-floor chalet, we are taken in an altogether different direction: to the exotic world of the East and its mysteries.
With its intricately carved Indian doors, colonnaded indoor swimming pool, miniature elephant heads adorning the entrance hall, and saffron yellow champagne buckets, it draws the eye to horizons that stretch far away from the ambience created by the use of alpine wood. Voted Switzerland’s Best Ski Chalet of 2014, this is a place that is decidedly exclusive, eclectic and off-the-wall.
The tone is set by the Latin motto on the arch before the majestic staircase, which reads “pax intrantibus, salus exeuntibus, benedicto habitantibus” (“Peace to those who enter here. Health to those who leave. Blessings to those who stay”).
Its steps lead straight to the huge living room, flanked with bay windows and, not surprisingly, a panoramic terrace. The vast expanse of space is needed to house the large wood-encased open fireplace, which is topped by a delicate oval mirror, and overlooked by 2.5-metre-wide fossilised antlers, discovered in an Irish peat bog last century. Facing them are two luxurious sofas, in elephant grey and dark pink.
Heading down a floor, we find four snug and inviting bedrooms promising restful sleep and sweet dreams, one of them featuring an impressive colonial-style Anglo-Indian bed. Our visit ends on a high note, as we drop down another floor to encounter a yellow portico and a very large swimming pool, positioned beneath a light well and opposite yet more bay windows. On one side lies the garden; on the other a Hammam and a champagne bar bathed in light and whose white, golden yellow and light pink décor would not look out of place in a maharani’s boudoir. Add a collection of sculptures comprising Baroque and contemporary pieces and the resplendent scene is complete.
