Ever since I visited France in the spring of this year I knew that I would be going there for a season soon enough. Well, over the summer I've done some reorganising of my life and in only a few weeks time I will be heading out to Bourg Saint Maurice (BSM) in the French Alps for a season in the snow. This is pretty exciting as I'm sure you can imagine.

I decided that I would like to be based in Bourg based on my experience of it last year. I've never boarded Les Arcs, but everything I read is good. What appealed to me most is that Bourg is a proper little town and definitely not a manufactured location. As much as I am going there to snowboard, I am also going there to experience France and improve my French.

After deciding where to go I set about finding somewhere to live. In the process my requirement changed from looking for somewhere for me to finding seasonal accommodation for me and 4 loosely connected others who I knew were hunting. I used web forums and benefited hugely from the advice of locals and past seasonaires.

Some of the places to look, other than Google, are the French Yellow pages - www.pagesjaunes.fr - looking for "Agence Immobiliers". Find the post code of your destination (BSM is 73700) as I found it helped a lot with searches. One tip suggested that the sites may not be as up to date as one might expect - get in touch with the agency and ask. If you are able to make a reconnaissance trip then the small ads in the supermarkets are also a good place to look for accommodation. There is a useful classified ads web site at http://www.paruvendu.fr/ where individuals can post what they have or what they want. Ultimately I was recommended someone to get in touch with who had the perfect accommodation and he and I were able to conclude a deal!

So, in a few weeks I'll be arriving, cracking open a bottle of red wine and surveying what will become home for the next 6 months. I'll keep you posted!