After a long day on trains from Munich to Zurich, Zurich to Geneva, Geneva to Bex (pronounced Be) we arrived at the Abbaye de Salaz (pronounced with a silent z).

This third generation family run winery set in the French speaking part of switzerland was to be our workplace and home for the next week.

Janine and her brother Bernard, were two of the 8 family members who work at the winery and being very good English speakers became our interpreters, guides and late night drinking buddies.

Weekdays we worked 9 to 5 picking grapes on the steep slopes where the vineyards are planted. On the opposite side of the valley were snow covered mountains, the view was so distracting from the physical work we were doing that time flew. Lunch always consisted of wine, sandwiches and fresh pasta bakes followed by an amazing home baked dessert.
Afternoon tea was delivered to us in the fields, where we breaked to look out at the view with hot tea, bread, cheese, chocolate and wine.
Dinner followed suit. It was safe to say that we were eating our way in pay at this place.
Then came the weekend, where functions are hosted in beautifully restored cellar rooms on the estate. Helping to cook for 90 guests in a commercial kitchen meant we were now trained chefs in the making. Well not exactly but peeling potatoes, making fruit salad and drying dishes are pretty important I think.
But the best thing was eating the leftovers of the restaurant quality meals they served. I thought I was in heaven when they offered me leftovers from the dessert buffet including: white chocolate toblerone mousse, baked cream tart, plum tart, creme brulee, raspberry tiramisu, chocolate brownie and lemon tart. Yes we were not feeling well after.

Between eating and helping with the harvest we sampled the wines they produced, labelled and boxed the wines, leant and watched the various steps of wine making and played with the cute dogs and cats of the winery.

To rest our bodies after a hard week of picking we were treated to a night at the local thermal springs. The place was set down in a narrow valley so you looked up to views of surrounding snow and mountains whilst going from spa to pool to sauna to hammam.

In the end a week flew by and we really wanted to have stayed longer but who knows maybe we will return next year.