History.  The smooth slates across which I can glide in my stocking feet remind me of your past, their mercurial patina curated over centuries by the industrious steps of those who have scurried, lumbered and whisked themselves around your higgledy-piggledy ancient buildings as they went about their daily work.

That slate, heaved from your hillsides, provides an almost magnetic connection between the town and the landscape. It reminds us why you are here, where you have come from, and why we need to respect and be grateful to the peaks which loom around you.

“You were not conceived in the imagination of a business executive seeking to capture a greater share of wallet in leisure expenditure, but because it was in your fertile bosom that men were able to scrape an existence together many hundreds of years ago”

The cleansing bustle of La Dranse, which gets angry when it rains (like we all do) but which glistens with crystalline mountain water, breathing life into the town and giving succour to the forest and its scurrying, foraging and nibbling residents.

You were not conceived in the imagination of a business executive seeking to capture a greater share of wallet in leisure expenditure.  It is true that you now find ways to entertain us as we rumble insouciantly down your slopes, but you are here because of the life-giving force of La Dranse, because of the resolute slabs of slate, and because it was in your fertile bosom that men were able to scrape an existence together many hundreds of years ago.  I feel that connection, that authenticity, every time my feet touch the floor or I hear the rush of the river through my bedroom window.

The school, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, the everyday lives that jangle throughout your intertwining streets – they reassure me that you are here for all the right reasons.  And it is your people that make you so great.  The locals, who heartily welcome us in as outsiders each year, whether we are staying just for a short break or for longer.  Of course there is the odd harrumph when cultures clash or the interlopers are not respectful of your ways, but you are open-armed, warm and have always been loving to me, for which I am eternally grateful.

“The everyday lives that jangle throughout your intertwining streets – they reassure me that you are here for all the right reasons”

And those who have come from other worlds to make their lives amongst your ski slopes and summer trails, they bring with them the passion of frontiersmen, those who have decided to change their lives in the pursuit of their dreams.  That energy is coursing through your town, the desire to build a life around sports, passion, nature and ultimately fun makes you such an awesome drinking partner and one of the best buddies to hang out with.  You are always up for something.