Here are the available villas for rental in Switzerland.

How to make a snowman in the summer

Although I've never had any particular desire to be Jimmy Saville - and have certainly never worn any chunky gold rings - we have a little game at home that the children like to play.
It's called Giles'll Fix It and the rules go something like this: they suggest a ridiculous idea of what they would most like to do, and I try to make it happen.
It is not the easiest of games, but I knew I was on to a winner when they suggested building a snowman in the middle of summer. For once, this was something I could definitely fix.
It helped, of course, that we were on holiday in Switzerland. Although our chalet was set amid green meadows strewn with summer flowers, the surrounding mountain tops were dolloped with generous helpings of snow.
Building a snowman was going to be my easiest assignment yet.
We were staying in one of the most picturesque spots in Switzerland. The Valais region stretches from the eastern end of Lake Geneva to the source of the mighty Rhone. It's an area of grandiose mountains and cloud-piercing crags; fractured glaciers and awesome rock-faces.
But there's also a softer, gentler landscape. In Switzerland, the Valais is famous for its alpage - high summer meadows - where the cows munch wild flowers (and produce the most fragrant milk) during the sunny months of July and August.
We'd come to savour the scenery and hike through this untouched Garden of Eden. The Valais boasts some truly spectacular trails and is a particularly good place to bring young children.
You can rent cottages that nestle in the meadows, where the paths are flat but the scenery is spectacular.
The view from our chalet was so impressive that I had to keep popping outside to check it was for real. Set in a meadow high above the town of Visp, we had an in-your-face panorama of quite staggering proportions. ... more

Travel by train

With all the recent bad press that our railways have been getting, I'd like to say that absolutely the best way to get around Switzerland is by train.
The views are incredible, it's not very expensive and the trains are really comfortable. And they run precisely on time, which makes a nice change.
I've been to Switzerland fairly recently on business and we've been a few times as a family and a train has yet to show up late.
Also, if the trains happen not to cover a particular destination, there will be a bus that links up to the train service and will take you on to your final destination. These also arrive when expected, even during the middle of winter when you'd imagine that heavy snow might make delays inevitable.
The only downfall is that the food is not always particularly good, even in the stations. It's not that it's bad; it's just that a buttery cheese and smoked-meat sandwich is not always to British tastes. Pack a picnic if you like salads and fruit. ... more

A room on the roof of the world

When Queen Victoria took on assorted dragons and the tormented spirit of Pontius Pilate she made sure she was well supported. She brought eight staff, including her cook, plus a mule.
According to contemporary accounts, her ascent in 1868 of Mount Pilatus in Switzerland - a peak rich in local legend - was a great success. She was 'captivated by the beauty of the mountain and the sunsets'.
For my own ascent 134 summers later, I scaled the mountain via a cog railway. The final stretch is a giddying creep up a sheer cliff. Built in 1889, it is still the steepest cog railway in the world. I slept at the summit in a comfy Edwardian hotel.
Both Victoria and I were indulging in a passion that the Swiss pioneered - climbing to the top of mountains to see the fiery Alpine sunsets and sunrises. It didn't take the Swiss long to come up with the idea of building grand hotels at the summits to accommodate their foreign guests.
> Not so long ago, locals wouldn't dream of scaling the peaks. Many reported seeing flame-breathing dragons around the summit. Others thought that the body of Pontius Pilate came to rest in a lake near the mountain-top, hence its name. They believed that every Good Friday, his tormented spirit would float to the surface in a vain attempt to wash his hands of Jesus's blood.
I saw neither dragons nor Pilate, but the views were sensational. At about 6am, as the eastern sky appeared to catch fire, the lakes around the mountain - more than a vertical mile below - took on a silvery sheen.
In the distance, the snow-covered peaks of the Eiger and Jungfrau glowed a vivid pink.
Many of these hotels are rather old-fashioned - often built at the same time as the pioneering mountain railways - so rooms often have a sink, but showers and bathrooms are shared.
As a result they are often good value. These mountain-top hotels all have a railway, cable car or gondola to the summit, so you don't have to be super-fit to enjoy them, though they are also the starting point for superb hikes. ... more

Throw away the skis

Ever since I read Tolstoy's Anna Karenina as a teenager, I have had this fantasy about being seduced in the back of a horsedrawn sleigh.
Chance would be a fine thing at my age. But in St Moritz a fraction of my fantasy came true as I snuggled (alone, alas) under sheepskin rugs and was pulled in an open carriage across the snow by two huge, snorting horses.
It was absolutely magical. The driver whistled and clicked directions at the horses who trotted along, scarlet plumes nodding, harness bells jingling, as I sat gazing at the landscape, with snowflakes in my hair - and the 'exhaust fumes' of flatulent horse in my nostrils.
This was even more pungent when I sat up front beside the driver. Tolstoy never mentioned the down wind downside in his famous novel.
But not to worry. Snug under rugs, I passed people skating on frozen lakes or striding along in snow shoes, mountains crisscrossed with colourful skiers, snow sliding off branches with muffled thumps and the sun throwing blue-tinged shadows through the trees.
At night these carriages are fitted with lanterns and candles, and as the horses jingle along, passengers sip schnapps and stare, enraptured, at the stars. Romantic or what?
This was certainly my idea of winter sports. So, too, was being deliciously pummelled by jets of hot water in a steaming outdoor Jacuzzi (the world's highest).
And crunching through snow to St Moritz's exclusive boutiques. And slurping frothy chocolate with hordes of rich Russians in Hansemann's Inn overlooking the frozen lake. And going round and round in a chair-lift above the ski slopes. You get the picture?
Forget skiing. Forget snowboarding. For non-sporty types like me, there is never a dull moment in St Moritz.
Simply sitting about is a treat in itself, gazing at the sensational unrestricted mountain views which remind you of those ubiquitous Alpine backdrop posters so popular in British dental surgeries.
Or else you can laze on south-facing terraces, wrapped in blankets, admiring the craggy snow-topped silhouettes of the Piz Noir mountain range. ... more

Spellbound in Switzerland

Three hours from Zurich, 1,300 metres up in the heart of Switzerland's Jungfrau region, sits a little resort that is one of Europe's prettiest.
Car-free Wengen has a tiny train station, one street of shops and bars, a handful of typically Swiss chalets with carved shutters, and 27 hotels, many of them tucked into sleepy lanes.
Right now the snow record is excellent. In the sun, Wengen is a skier's dream.
Conveniently, the cable car to its slopes is in the centre of the village.
In 15 minutes you reach Mannlichen, flatter than Wengen's other main skiing area, Kleine Sheidegg. Looming above is Switzerland's famous trio of mountains, the majestic Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.
With sparkling champagne powder as far as the eye can see and crisp Alpine air to breathe, you appreciate why skiers have wintered in Wengen since 1909.
At lunch Mannlichen's few restaurants fill fast, but the amiable atmosphere means sharing tables is easy to do.
Even on the pistes, bonhomie is just as evident. You scarcely pass someone who doesn't say hello or at least nod.
Higher up at Kleine Sheidegg it's like one big love-in. Young couples kiss and hug in open view, people chatter over drinks in the Tipi Area tent, all against a backbeat of pumping music.
Expert skiers may niggle that Wengen is unchallenging, as red pistes far outnumber black. Beginners and intermediates certainly have enough to get their teeth into. Unless you can parallel ski comfortably, some red slopes may seem too steep for comfort. ... more