Houses often outlive their inhabitants, especially the exquisitely constructed chalets of this region. Over time, a home may change hands or undergo transformations, yet it retains its original beams and preserves the stories of those who lived within its walls, sometimes across centuries. Between 1850 and 1976, the Grand Chalet operated as a hotel, lovingly owned and run by the Devenish and Scott family, whose memories of it remain vividly alive.

The Devenish chapter begins
When a ten-year-old boy stepped off the train at Rossinière station on 27 December 1927, he could not have im agined that this mountain village would shape the course of his life. That winter marked his first stay at the Grand Chalet, where he, an orphaned child, would find joy and belonging under its wide eaves. Seventy years later, to the very day, he would stand on the same platform again, reflecting on the beginning of a lifelong bond with a house, a village, and a way of life.

A childhood of loss and discovery
That boy was Tony Devenish, already acquainted with loss. His mother died when he was eight, a brother soon after, and his father by the age of ten. Tony and his three surviving brothers were left in the care of two aunts, Kitty and Dolly, who could not agree on who should raise them. Kitty, childless and comfortably settled near Croydon, and Dolly, already with two sons of her own, reached no resolution. The boys became wards of the court.

That first Christmas, Aunt Dolly faced the daunting task of entertaining four lively boys. A friend came to her rescue: Mrs Scott, owner and hostess of the Grand Chalet, who invited them all to Switzerland. Thus began a relationship that would last a lifetime. The boys arrived in Rossinière, learned to ski, and fell in love with the mountains, returning year after year until the outbreak of war.

A parasol, a bottle of whisky
Family lore traces the origins of this bond even further back, to Rhodesia during an earlier war. Aunt Dolly met Mrs Scott while visiting their respective husbands, both prisoners of war. The two women struck up an instant friendship when their parasols collided, each concealing a bottle of whisky. From that spirited moment, a lifelong connection was sealed.

Return and renewal
After the war, in 1947, Tony returned to Switzerland in style, driving a Rolls-Royce shooting wagon once owned by the Tsar. Drawn back by nostalgia, he visited often until, in 1950, he and Phyllis Scott, Mrs Scott’s daughter and his childhood friend, bought the Grand Chalet together. The house that had once offered refuge became his life’s great endeavour.

Around the same time, another story came full circle. Peggy, who had first visited the Grand Chalet as a child, met Tony there when she was eight and he twelve. After losing both her parents in the early 1950s, she returned to Rossinière seeking solace. There she found love. Peggy and Tony married and had three children, Nicholas, Marcella, and Sebastian, adding a new generation to the chalet’s story.

A house alive with character
Under Tony and Phyllis’s care, the Grand Chalet flourished. Tony managed finances, maintenance, and guest activities; organising ski outings, hikes, and excursions, while Phyllis oversaw bookings, kitchens, and daily operations. Together, they created a place unlike any other.

Between 1950 and 1976, the chalet welcomed an extraordinary cast: writers, actors, wartime spies, monks, and even a convent of singing nuns. Aforementioned dogs, cats, and the occasional terrapin roamed its corridors. Laughter echoed through its salons; friendships formed over shared adventures and long Alpine evenings.

A legacy preserved
When the hotel closed in 1976 and was sold to the artist Balthus, the Grand Chalet entered a new chapter. Tony and Balthus soon struck up a friendship, spending long hours exchanging stories. While the family had to come to terms with the end of the chalet’s life as a hotel, they could not have hoped for a more fitting custodian.

The spirit of the house, the hum of conversation, the warmth of shared meals, the laughter of generations, lingered in its walls. For Tony and Peggy, for Phyllis Scott, and later for Tony’s children, the Grand Chalet was never merely a building. It was a living inheritance, shaped by friendship, community, and love.

LUCINDA BROUSSE