A look round Klosters in summer, Switzerland

If you are interested in Klosters, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, please watch my 3 minute film to get a good idea of the place: a chic but not flashy, traditional Swiss winter sports village for the rich and famous. Members of the British Royal Family used to come here to ski and enjoy family winter holidays, and for the most part the paparazzi left them alone. One exception was perhaps in the days of Lady Diana, who was just too big a draw for the photographers to ignore. Prince Charles even did deals with them: if we give you a posed photo session, will you leave us alone after that to enjoy a private holiday with our boys? Sometimes it worked: it depended how much pressure the snappers were under from editors, which in turn was connected to the state of Charles’ and Diana’s relationship. As you will see, Klosters in summer is not as industrial-looking as some ski resorts look when there is no snow. Nearly all of the buildings are traditional Swiss-chalet style, and many of them are privately owned, which gives the place a rather more classy, understated air than some of the more crowded popular resorts. Yes the cable cars are still running to take hikers up into the mountains, but there are not large crowds taking advantage of them, because hotels are too expensive for the masses to stay in town. And yes there are shops selling sports equipment and fashionable garments, but they are more discreet than elsewhere. The mountains are beautifully green at this time of year, and there are plenty of trees and shrubs all around the village streets. Being Switzerland, and upper-class Switzerland at that, everything is neat and tidy.