From walking the walk, to skiing the slopes
It’s March, so I must be in France.
Bonjour! It’s Kate. I’m writing this from probably my favourite place in the world – a small apartment in Les Gets, in the Haute Savoie region of the Northern French Alps.
I’m lucky enough to be able to spend 10 weeks of the year out here – 4 in the winter where I indulge my love of the snow, skiing, cheese, local wine and the slower pace of life, then 6 weeks in the summer where I indulge my love of mountain running, cheese, local wine etc etc.
So how did this come about?
We spend our working days helping our clients to articulate, plan and achieve the lifestyles they want. Years ago, when I was developing this way of working, I asked myself what, when I’m old and even more cantankerous than I am now, I would most regret not doing – and the immediate answer was “Spend more time in the mountains”. For me, everything feels better here. My husband’s answer was exactly the same as mine.
From the very early days of our relationship, we’d been talking about wanting to spend more time in France. Driving back to the Eurotunnel in 2019, I stopped wailing and gnashing my teeth long enough to announce that we either had to do something about it or stop talking about it. In that moment, the 10 weeks of the year in Les Gets plan was born.
Technology makes most of the logistics remarkably easy. Our lovely clients had made the transition to some online meetings during lockdown – and the news of my plans was met with overwhelming approval, as well as the acknowledgement that I was practising what I preached.
Five years on, it’s fully embedded. The best business and life plans are made here. For 10 weeks of the year, I can wake up in a beautiful place, run/ski in the mountains, enjoy, for the most part, amazing weather, food and scenery, whilst still co-running our company and looking after our clients with minimal disruption. Sure, there are a lot of things we don’t do in order to be able to do this. We’ve made lifestyle choices about where we live and how much we spend in the UK – but you’d expect that, right?
It’s all about priorities, and this one is ours.