in Isère, the peaceful life of one of the highest villages in France

An hour’s drive from Grenoble in Isère, nestled in the heart of the Alps, is Villard-Reymond. This small village, the highest in Isère and the second highest in France, has only ten inhabitants. They told us about their daily life in this village perched at an altitude of 1650 meters.

Villard-Reymond is the smallest village in Isère, and also the highest, perched at an altitude of 1650 meters. To get there, you have to take a very winding road, and sometimes dangerous especially when it is covered with snow like this January morning. 10 kilometers in a cul-de-sac in the heart of Oisans, which the letter carrier, Christelle, covers every day, whether it is raining, snowing or windy: “The road is perfect, she tells us, today she is fine. There are times when it is much more complicated, if the snow falls on top again for example once the snowplow has passed. If the road really isn’t cleared of snow, the DDE tells me not to go up, I don’t go up, but that happens three times a year.“

We met, Chantal, the mayor of the village since 2014. She lives here all year round. It is therefore to her that we first ask the big question: what are we doing here, in the great silence of winter? “Occasionallywe put the butt lifter on and we go skiing, sometimes we stay huddled at home because the weather is not nice and sometimes we meet in the evening for evenings.“
Here, about ten inhabitants live year-round. Among them, Chantal, Cécile, Laurent, but also recently: Olivier and Sophie. They took over the village lodge at the beginning of last summer. She quit her job as a teacher and he quit his job in logistics. They come from the city, and they learn on the job the job of mountain innkeeper: “It’s our first winter, the summer went well, says Oliver, is I thought it was going to be hard to arrive in a small mountain village like that, that everyone was going to be in their corner, and in the end not at all. Everyone is united, we are all friends, it’s like a family.“

Above the gîte and the houses is a field at an altitude of 1700 metres. Before retiring, Chantal went up there as soon as spring arrived: “It’s fantastic here, when you come to work here in the morning, you say, it’s the most beautiful office in the world. Me, I’m from here, and then there’s nothing to do, you’re clinging to places like that, to your roots. It’s like that. About 20 years ago in this field I planted black currants, currants, raspberries and genepi, and afterwards I consider myself lucky with climate change, because there are much less snow than before, I was able to set up these cultures which allowed me to live.“

Today, this field is Cécile who takes care of it. She has been living in this village with her husband for a few years now: “Once you’ve lived here, it’s complicated to come back down. For me, it’s nature, it’s the landscape, the calm, it’s true that when you take the time to listen, in winter there is a lot of silence, the stream is frozen so you don’t can’t hear anymore, the snow muffles the sounds a bit, and what struck me is that you can hear the beating of the wings of the birds and I find that very beautiful. I got it nowhere else.“

Remember, Chantal had spoken of a butt lifter. Because yes, Villard-Reymond can compete for the price of the smallest resort in France, with its unique ski lift.

Here, several tracks, 40 meters of vertical drop and breathtaking view of Alpe d’Huez: “That’s one of the biggest advantages, it’s enjoying, enjoying the snow, the ski lift. It takes 1 to 2 minutes to come from the village and afterwards, we ski all day quietly, we don’t queue, there were five of us skiing just now. It’s the greatest pleasure you can have, working here is extraordinary,” Concludes the innkeeper.