Norway is a family-friendly skiing destination that is easy to reach from the UK. So should we be concerned by reports of expensive holiday costs, short daylight hours and Arctic temperatures? No we shouldn't because, as Ben Moore reports, it offers brilliant alternatives to tradtional Alpine resorts.

“It’s like skiing through Narnia,” pipes up 10-year-old Ollie as we ride a four-man chair on the second day of a February half-term family ski trip to the Norwegian resort of Hemsedal.

And he’s right. We’re in what is dubbed the Scandinavian Alps but Hemsedal offers something a little different to the traditional Alpine ski resorts of mainland Europe. The word ski comes from an old Norse word meaning stick of wood and it has been a long held desire of ours to go on a family holiday to the home of skiing. Immediately you sense a more relaxed and chilled-out attitude among the locals and other holidaymakers.

The chairlift ride offers a good chance to scout out routes. We’re seeking last night’s fresh snow and some tempting looking off-piste among the trees. Apparently the boys went there on the first day of the wonderfully-named Adventure Camp group lesson and now they want to lead us through this magical place.

The trees, set against a perfectly blue sky and caked in icy whiteness, appear to have been frozen in time – which is what has prompted Ollie to chronicle the scene with reference to C S Lewis’ fantasy novels.

One thing you notice immediately about Hemsedal is that there’s plenty of not too extreme off piste to dip into. And it is incredibly accessible from the pistes, so if your children and you want to experiment you can do so in an easy and safe way. It is aspects like this that make Hemsedal a very clever family ski resort.

But where exactly are we? Hemsedal is on a similar latitude to the Shetland Islands and is a three-hour drive north of Oslo. It is set in a valley with the town or Sentrum a short five-minute free bus ride from the resort itself.

You can choose to stay in the Sentrum – which is where we were based – or in the resort itself. Accommodation here is split generally into the Alpin Lodge area by the nursery slopes or up on the hillside setting of Skarsnuten Panorama.

It is not high in a traditional skiing sense – the highest lift goes to 1,497m – but the snow conditions are superb due to its geographical location. The scenery reminds me more of the rounded hills of the Lake District rather than the jagged peaks of the Alps.

Package deals with two-hour charter flights from Gatwick to Fagernes (a local

airport around one and a half hours away by coach transfer) are available with Crystal Ski. Fagernes airport is a quirky experience for children as the terminal building is not that much bigger than the Thomson Airways plane that lands at it.

We had a bit of an issue on our outbound flight, which meant we had to divert to Oslo and eventually arrived in resort six hours late. More on that in Ben’s Blog – but it was quickly forgotten thanks to Hemsedal’s many positives.

On arrival we checked into the Skogstad Hotel in Hemsedal Sentrum. It’s the oldest hotel in town and sits near the river along with a couple of supermarkets, a bank, the tourist information, some ski shops, a petrol station, a ski rental place and a small collection of hotels and cafes.

The hotel was an ideal base for the week – friendly staff and comfortable, no nonsense facilities. There’s free WiFi but only in the lobby area, which is full of comfy sofas and chairs to chill out in. And there’s also a small sauna and steam area plus a gym, if a day’s skiing isn’t enough exercise for you.

The rooms are large and simply furnished. They are comfortable and functional and suited our family perfectly – mum and dad in one large room, the boys in the twin room next door. The breakfast buffet is good and the set menu dinner was excellent - protein and carbs and bags of flavour, including meat balls, chicken fillet, ribs and steak.

Up on the mountain, Hemsedal has a really friendly feel to it. It’s not brash and in your face, more inclusive and welcoming. Norwegian families love to ski together and this is reflected in the resort layout and features.

Hemsedal is compact and easy to navigate thanks to a simple piste numbering system. Every run bar one will eventually lead you back down to the central ski area so you never feel like you’ll get lost or lose your children.

And there’s a wide range of gradients to play with. The nursery area, which boasts six runs, fans out in front of the Alpin Lodge accommodation and retail development. There are also two greens (numbers 11 and 32) that are designated Lavfartsomrade, or slow tempo areas.

On a sunny day, some of the nicest morning skiing is to be found on Rogjin – pistes 13, 14, and 15 are great cruisy reds and blues, while dropping off these runs allow you to twist and turn your way down through the trees.

The bottom of these runs also leads to the start of the free-to-use timed giant slalom course which makes you feel like a real racer. My best time was 34 seconds – which was easily beaten by both our boys! Hemsedal also has a speed gun run and a skicross course.

Dotted in among the pistes are three terrain parks. The first only has beginner jumps, boxes and rails, while the expert park has competition-standard kickers. It’s a great place for young skiers to get their first taste of freestyle skiing.

The majority of the runs are blues and reds, but there are three steep blacks to challenge yourself on. Piste 6 is used for slalom competitions, while numbers 8 and 9 are where the Norwegian championship downhill courses – for the likes of Aksel Lund Svindal - are set.

New this year is piste 49, a 4km blue that runs all the way down to the river and Hemsedal Sentrum. You pass imposing walls of rock and thick pine forests as you ski to the valley floor. The run takes about 10mins and brings you out a short stroll from the Skogstad Hotel, so if you stay there it's a great way to end the day on skis rather than in a bus.

To get to piste 49 you have to take the Hollvin Express eight-man chair and then a button lift to drop down a green to the start of number 49. Be aware that button closes at 4.30pm, so get up the mountain in good time.

On Fridays between 7pm and 10pm, night skiing runs on selected floodlit slopes and terrain parks. Just for novelty value it is worth going back up the mountain – there was also something magical to ride the eight-man chair, often alone, in near darkness beneath star-filled skies.

The ski school is run by Skistar, the company that manages the pistes, operates the lift system and runs the resort ski rental service. They run 1.5 hour group lessons (for children from two years old and adults) over four days for £85. For more advanced children the Adventure Camp group lessons (4 x 3 hours) introduces them to tree skiing, off-piste and terrain parks for £110.

Remember all Norwegians speak perfect English, so your child won’t struggle with any language barrier in ski school. The Parallel Trails boys were in Adventure Camp with a young instructor called Frida. She was terrific and the boys enjoyed her enthusiasm and sense of humour.