Dreaming of Snow

I’m definitely a hot weather person, I love the sun, tropical flowers, white beaches and swimming in coral coves filled with rainbow fish.

However I do have a big weakness for soft, powdery snow and all the excitement that comes along with it!

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Whenever I tell people that I’m going home to Madrid for Christmas they always assume that because it’s Spain, it will be hot – and they couldn’t be any further than the truth!

At 667m elevation, Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe (except for Andorra, but I’m choosing to ignore it!)

It’s surrounded by a ring of raw jagged mountains which are as arid as the desert in summer, populated only by sparse scrubs and ancient olive trees. However in winter…they are permanently tipped with white.

Our house, to the North of Madrid, has a beautiful view of the Sierra de Guadarrama, and we often sit and watch the dying ochre sun fall over the blue mountains, giving way to the night.

When my sister and I were growing up, we’d take the bus every Saturday up to the ski pistes at ValdesquΓ­, Navacerrada or La Pinilla and spend the day flying through the mountains in a cloud of powdery snow. The best thing is that even though temperatures in winter can drop to -15 degrees, the sun somehow stays resolutely in the sky. I think I spent half my time skiing in a T-shirt! Madrid is incredible in that sense – it may not have a coastline, but with a 45 degree summer by a swimming pool and winters skiing in the sunny mountains – you couldn’t really ask for more.

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I have so many amazing snow memories, and they’re all in Madrid! Whether it was a day off school because the roads were all snowed under or a snowball fight on horseback (we only realised later that it was rather impractical to gather more snow from the back of a horse).

I think my favourite snow memories however are with my dog. My golden puppy loves playing in the snow, I’ll never forget how surprised she was when she first encountered snow, but it’s always a lot of fun to take her up into the mountains to run around like an arctic wolf!
Inntravel are running a campaign at the moment: #DreamingofSnow and they’ve very kindly gifted me a Go Outdoors voucher to give away. To win the Β£50 voucher, all you have to do is comment below with your favourite snow memory, and I’ll pick the best in a week.

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163 Comments
  • RedVelvetLondon
    January 5, 2015

    wow I remember when I was 12, I hid all my brother’s action toys (power rangers) in the snow! I like to think it was a game but he did cry the whole day coz he couldn’t find it. When the snow melted, the power ranger toys resurfaced. πŸ˜€

  • Angie Hoggett (@angiehoggett)
    January 6, 2015

    I remember when I was younger I used to pull my slightly younger brother around on a sledge, literally chucking him all over he loved it. He was always so small then in secondary school he had a growth spurt and he’s way bigger than me now, I couldn’t even lift his leg, let alone him so it’s nice to have those memories. We both loved the snow and still do now, we’ll often build a snowman if we get some snow!!

  • iain maciver
    January 6, 2015

    when I was young there was a huge amount of snowfall that you could not even see the tops of the stone dyke walls

  • Christine Caple
    January 6, 2015

    We used to live within easy walking distance of the top local club where everyone came to from miles around, and one New Year’s Eve there was very heavy snow, and no-one could get there except on foot, so we trudged there through the snow and had a fab time with none of the usual crowds. I will always remember it πŸ™‚

  • Samantha Atherton
    January 6, 2015

    My favorite snow memory is from boxing day as it’s first time my little girl has played out in the snow as last time it snowed she was only 6 months. It was dark out but we threw snow balls in the street and made a little snowman in our front garden. My husband showed her how to make a snowball and she told him it was a bit too cold and asked if he could make her a warm one instead.

  • Debbie Cox
    January 6, 2015

    When my son was young we had loads of snow and he went into the back garden with my cat. The cat got burried in the snow because we had so much and my son was frightened out of his skin when the cat jumped at him out of nowhere! Was very funny!

  • Olaf
    January 6, 2015

    My favourite snow memory was when bees buzzed, kids blew dandelion fuzz, and I was doing whatever snow does in summer.I think I had a drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand
    while getting gorgeously tanned in summer.
    Summer snow is the best!

    • Sarah Alexandra George
      January 19, 2015

      Haha – this reminds me of something…. did you have a friend called Anna? And Elsa? πŸ˜‰

  • LynneH
    January 6, 2015

    My favourite memory is building my first snowman, with my sisters.

  • laura stewart
    January 6, 2015

    we built Wallace and gromit with snow

  • lucy higgins
    January 6, 2015

    mine is when me and my twin sister played in the snow when we were little and built a snowman in our back garden. Even when all the ground now melted, the snowman stayed there for over a week!

  • Karen Richards
    January 6, 2015

    Sledging on tin trays and plastic bags when I was young. No alleged then.

  • MARY HEALD
    January 6, 2015

    Trying to walk on stilts as they were a long awaited Christmas present but that year we had snow!

  • joanne darnell
    January 6, 2015

    as kids playing with the dog in the snow

  • Will Critchley
    January 6, 2015

    Walking to the Manchester Christmas markets with my lovely wife when we couldn’t get to work because of the heavy snow

  • Max yorke
    January 6, 2015

    Helping my children build their first snowman, it was not vary big because their was not much snow, but my children still talk about it.

  • neverminddear
    January 6, 2015

    When I was a kid in the 70s the house we lived at had a steep drive and all the kids in the street would slide down it on trays …. until we used our Mams best silver tray without her knowing and were in big trouble

  • jackie curran
    January 6, 2015

    I remember a customer complaining we had to cancel their appointment, even though the military were airlifting food to the island , as it had snowed for virtually three weeks .

  • Susan B
    January 6, 2015

    Hailing from the Southern Hemisphere, I’d never seen proper snow until I spent my first winter in the UK. I woke early one morning to a weird quietness and a strange light, looked out of the window and there it was – proper, big, fat, snowflakes falling! I screamed at my husband to get up and he was propelled out of bed thinking there must have been an accident or emergency of some sort. He wasn’t very pleased to find that it was just snow falling!

  • Postman Spotting (@PostmanSpotting)
    January 6, 2015

    I have a memory of being about four or five and sitting in the back garden, making snow angels and throwing snowballs with my little brother. Thinking of this prompted me to look through old photos and I found a picture from that very day! Here it is : http://i.imgur.com/e7Uh2nw.jpg
    Thanks for bringing that memory back!

  • vicky haining
    January 6, 2015

    My snow memory, is one of my best moments of my childhood; I was around 5 or 6 years old, and we had an absolutely ridiculous amount of snow fall that winter, so my dad decided to build me an igloo! It was amazing! He built it properly, compounding the snow into big blocks of ice, and when it was finished it was so big it was even large enough for an adult to stand up in! Every year since if its snowed I’ve tried to persuade him to rebuild it, but no such luck yet. Maybe 2015 will be the year he finally gives in!

  • Janine Atkin
    January 6, 2015

    waking up easter morning to see it had snowed. Making snowmen on easter sunday was bizarre but so much fun

  • Ryan Pepper
    January 6, 2015

    I think my favourite snow memory has to be a few years ago, when I went up to the Lake District in February with a group of friends. We started off on a walk from Coniston, and walked from the place we were staying near the lake, up the Old Man of Coniston. It was a tough walk, as snow had fallen for several days, and it was quite windy which made it feel much colder than at the bottom – I was very glad for my scarf! Up until near the top, it was very cloudy which meant that we could see very little, but as we walked along a ridge, the view cleared to show a spectacular vista of white. As we clambered down, it was very slippy, but that just meant we took the opportunity to slide down – although I was rather bruised at the end of it all!

  • Pam Francis Gregory
    January 6, 2015

    Sledging down very steep hills with a road at the bottom. They would never allow it nowadays!

  • Kathy Cakebread
    January 6, 2015

    I remember when we got to go home from school because of the snow and my mum pulled me home in the sledge πŸ™‚

  • Monika S
    January 6, 2015

    When i was 7 my older brother took me to the hills with his friends for sledging – I had to swear that I wont tell mum because e were not allowed there due to many accidents

  • Sophie Swallow
    January 6, 2015

    When my older brother used me as a model for his snowman and then pretended he didn’t know where I was when my mom was looking for me!

  • Jo Redfern
    January 6, 2015

    One of my memories is 2 years ago, hearing on the local radio all the schools were closed and my daughters being so excited. We wasted no time in getting 20 layers of clothes on, even our dog had a wooly jumper on and went off sledging, the hill was packed full of people and it was just one of those moments Locked in my memory, the sound of laughing and having so much fun x

  • Liz Ferguson
    January 6, 2015

    Building an igloo in 2010 .. It was great fun!

  • karen Howden
    January 6, 2015

    My tiny Shetland Sheepdog trying to get through the snowdrifts and ending up looking like a huge snowball

  • Kat Glynn
    January 7, 2015

    My favourite snow memory is from a trip to Iceland, We sat outside our cabin in a hot tub drinking champagne, with a gorgeous view and nothing to see for miles just snow x

  • Ruth Harwood
    January 7, 2015

    Has to be making snow angels with my son in 2010

  • Abbie Webb
    January 7, 2015

    When my little girl was 3, we opened the curtains and it had snowed over night, she had only seen it on the tele before and she couldn’t believe her eyes. We put her snowsuit over her pyjamas and got our wellies on and ran outside and made a snowman and snow angels

  • lynn heath
    January 7, 2015

    My favourite snow memory is when I was in Primary school and the snow came down and school was closed, me and my sisters took one of my mums trays and used it slide down the hill!!!! (we didn’t have a sledge so we improvised!!!!

  • Paula Readings
    January 7, 2015

    My Favourite moment is taking my son out in it the first time & seeing his big smile, rosy cheeks & excited eyes! priceless.

  • Emma Howard
    January 7, 2015

    I remember my son’s first experience of snow when he was 18 months old – his face was a picture and for once he was speechless!

  • Anthea Holloway
    January 7, 2015

    I remember the snow in Minnesota which was so deep that they had to carve paths through it for pedestrians to get about. You had to wear spikes on your shoes to grip on to the ice and children were warned not to lick the lampposts because their tongues would stick there and it was very difficult to get free without injury. Sometimes the radio would give out alerts saying “Don’t venture outside unless you really have to because it is too cold”. One day we heard that people in the downtown area were crawling on all fours because they could not stand up.

  • jcmoore
    January 7, 2015

    Holmenkollen ski jump looms into memory,
    a giant sun-dial slicing the glistening white
    of three o’clock that Oslo afternoon,
    circa nineteen seventy-seven,
    when he tugged me, giggling,
    through snow-weighted woods –
    dark firs in ermine trim,
    evergreen sledge slashing
    soft powdered drifts
    on the crest of my wild-wolfed howl.

  • Jess McGlynn
    January 7, 2015

    My dad was always one of those people who liked a challenge and whenever it would snow he’d bundle us all up and insist we went outside. One day we drove up a steep hill looking for the ideal place to sledge and he tried to park but ended up stuck in a drift. We couldn’t get the car out and we (the kids!) were all panicking about how we were going to get home again. My dad just got out and started making snowballs, lining them all up. My brother got out of the car to see what he was doing and my dad just looked up and threw a snowball right at him. We ended up having one of the best snowball fights I can ever remember. We kept on playing until a car passed by and helped us out of the drift. I honestly have no idea what my dad would have done if nobody had come passed but it turned out okay in the end!

  • Karen Gillett (@krisstig)
    January 7, 2015

    my very first visit to Stockholm is my best snow memory. I arrived day before a blizzard hit during coldest winter in decades. I absolutely loved it as I hadn’t experienced snow like it since I was kid. trudging through the almost 2 foot of snow in the city centre was fantastic. my companion was not so impressed and stayed in the hotel all day. so much better than the yukky wet slushy stuff Liverpool occassionally gets.

  • isis1981uk
    January 7, 2015

    Making my son’s first snowman with him when he was 2 – it was a Spurs themed one with a supporters scarf, hat & a football πŸ™‚

  • Sheila Reeves
    January 7, 2015

    My favourite memory was when I first started work, we had so much snow that the trains weren’t running so I had to take a couple of days off, we built snowmen & had snowball fights – just like being a kid again
    Your dog is beautiful!

  • Michelle orchard
    January 7, 2015

    It was being on holiday in Scotland with my dogs and they were leaping around playing like I have never seen before. We ended up having a snow ball fight, a sleigh down the hills whilst the dogs chased us

  • Rachel Butterworth
    January 7, 2015

    Helping my nephew build his first snowman this year.

  • Jennifer Toal
    January 7, 2015

    School closing and spending the afternoon sledging when I was about 6

  • jayneclaire
    January 7, 2015

    Building snowmen with my dad and middle brother.

  • hayden
    January 8, 2015

    I remember I must of been about 11-12 years old and we have a golf course near us and it was a lovely snowy morning jus been told your off school so before we went up to sledge us as kids thought what could we use instead of a sledge sum had binbags and sum pledges what did I have a cone barrier you know the long red and white one that sits on the cones to stop you falling down a whole and as you can guess went from the top to the bottom straight in the stream haha what a memory Gus luck all great prize

  • Allan Wilson
    January 8, 2015

    I had just started dating a new partner (it was 1999) and despite me saying not to come and visit because snow was due they arrived on that said saturday night. In the short of it we were snowed in the house for a week. Certainly was a getting to know you well experience.

  • stephen pye
    January 8, 2015

    Playing in the bus drivers cab and ringing the bell in a bus almost covered in a massive snow drift on the wood side

  • Fran H
    January 8, 2015

    Being at primary school in the early 80s and getting so excited for playtime, we ran out, jumped in the snowdrifts and got completely buried. They had to dig us out πŸ˜€

  • Katrina Fox
    January 8, 2015

    I have recently just had an old VHS transferred to DVD and it shows me as a little ‘un with my Mama and Grandad building a snowman. They left this earth many years ago and it was lovely to see their faces again and for a four year old I was pretty good at building snowmen! He even had a cape.

    I also love watching my staffy Ian playing in the snow. There’s some pictures of him up on my blog.

    Katrina | thechatterfox.com

  • shell ross
    January 8, 2015

    just sitting watching the snow from the window at Christmas as a child it was so magical with mums roaring coal fire and all the Christmas decorations and waiting in anticipation as a child for santa to come and bring presents.

  • Jaynealicia
    January 8, 2015

    Many years ago ski trekking up to the sparkling,virgin snow-covered plateau of a Norwegian summer farm. Absolutely magic – forget the fast downhill this was gentle, soft and oh so quiet. Would love to do it again – how about it Inntravel?

  • sheebasima28
    January 8, 2015

    My favorite memory is when it snowed heavily in the eighties when my children were little and the
    snow came up above the back door, the children`s faces were a gasp when they watched me dig my way out……it was amazing!

  • sheebasima28
    January 8, 2015

    My vivid memory is when my children were young in the eighties and it had snowed heavily all night and the snow was above the back door and my children’s faces were a gasp to watch their mother dig her way out…….it was so amazing, l have never forgot the memory!

  • steven blake
    January 8, 2015

    Making snowman with the kids

  • Cheryl Kean
    January 9, 2015

    my snow memory was when my daughter was about 10 and we had sonw on christmas day, how magical was that a thick blanket of snow to play in x

  • jayne hall
    January 9, 2015

    when i wasa child my dad made me an old wooden sled that we took to the park

  • elaine kerr
    January 9, 2015

    watching my beautiful daughter walking towards her wedding venue door, in her white dress and matching white furry boots holding a large umbrella to ward off the thick falling snow. She was absolutely beaming and loving it and so was I!

  • Angela L White
    January 9, 2015

    when we moved to a house with a garden, seeing my house cat play in the snow for the first time was great

  • Kerry Brown
    January 9, 2015

    my fave memory of snow is when my son went sledging for the first time aged 3, his face was just pure joy πŸ™‚ we haven’t had snow since πŸ™

  • Tracey Gwynne
    January 9, 2015

    My best snow memory – when I was about 8 my (very big) brother took me outside for a snowball fight. He put a stone in a snowball and threw it at me, making me cry. I did get my own back…building a snowman later that day, I rolled his car keys up into the snowmans head, and I didnt tell him until he was nearly melted!

  • Susan Patel
    January 9, 2015

    Sledging with my kids and coming home to a nice hot casserole and dry clothes that had been warming on the underfloor heating. They were blissful days that the kids still talk about now 20+ years later, looking forward to doing it all again with the grandkids.

  • Laura Walker
    January 9, 2015

    The snow being too deep for mine and my twin brothers little legs at first school so we were taken home by sledge by my mum, I’d never been so excited for the trip home!

  • linda e woodhams
    January 9, 2015

    going for a walk with my big brother and his friends when i was 9, over the old ‘bottleheaps’ (black heaps of sand waste from an old bottle factory) and falling into a 6 foot deep hole which had been hidden in the snow drifts (1978)

  • jenrhymer
    January 9, 2015

    I lived in Scotland as a child and there was a house with a steep garden hill that my friends and I would sledge down when the car wasn’t on the drive! It turned out to be a policeman & policewoman that lived there and when we found out we never sledged there again but it was a lot of fun

  • Lydia Frew
    January 9, 2015

    It had snowed heavily with that thick wet snow that clung to everything. We were out walking and my brother had hidden, lying in wait where a heavily laden branch hung over the path. He intended shaking the branch so that all the snow landed on me. But what he hadn’t realised was that shaking that single branch it would shake the rest of the tree dislodging a HUGE amount of snow right onto him! He even managed to mis-time the shake so that the snow intended for my head landed behind me as I passed by.

  • Joanne austin
    January 9, 2015

    Going on ski holidays with my friends (before I had kids!). We would party hard in the evening but get up early to catch the first lifts. Loved making the first tracks down the mountain ! Those were fun days .

  • Liz
    January 9, 2015

    when I was five, my Dad had to dig a path to the front door. The sides of the snow path were higher than my head.

  • Nancy Bradford
    January 9, 2015

    When I was little we lived in Michigan. The best memory ever was being snowed in for two whole weeks. We played Monopoly and all sorts of games (tv was never really an option when I was a child). It was great.

  • Mandi
    January 10, 2015

    One of my best snow memories was when I was a little girl, we had a particularly heavy snowfall and our school was shut for a week, we spent the first day building a giant snowman, he was as tall as my dad and we used a bucket for his hat, he stayed for about two weeks, unfortunately we had built him on our driveway, so my mum had to park her car out on the road until he melted!!

  • Eileen Tingle
    January 10, 2015

    It might have been 1977 or thereabouts and the snow drifted from one side of the road to the other with huge drifts taller than me. My son, who was 10 years old, went out in the morning and dug out a path on my elderly next door neighbour’s drive so that she could get out of the house. I was so proud of him, I just wish I had a little boy like him living next door to me now.

  • Joanna Butler-Savage
    January 10, 2015

    building a snow muppet “Gonzo” in our front garden with my dad

  • Lyla
    January 10, 2015

    All the kids in our street built a giant snowman that was taller than our dad and twice as fat. We were so proud of it. The next day some older boys from up the road came and sabotaged it.

  • Kathryn Casbolt
    January 10, 2015

    Waking up one Christmas morning when I was a child and seeing snow falling outside. It really was the icing on the cake, a magical white Christmas πŸ™‚

  • susan gough
    January 10, 2015

    Driving across Scotland two years ago after heavy snow. The road between Glasgow and Edinburgh was amazingly clear and the scenery spectacular. The fresh snow and ice sparkled in the sunshine making the mountains and streams seem very clear and very magical! Will live long in my memory…

  • Samantha Bolter
    January 10, 2015

    My Father-in-law often goes on about the snowfall in Wales in 1963 where he had to dig out a gully through 6 foot of snow, the year before last when we had a big fall of snow, early in the morning we went out and put as much snow in front of his door to make it look like 1963. At breakfast we asked dad to go nip out and get some milk, imagine his shock when he opened the door and he couldnt see anything other than snow…the look on his face was a sight to be seen….good job he never opened the curtains as there was very little snow anywhere else in the garden it was all in front of the door

  • Mel Hayward
    January 10, 2015

    Driving out onto Dartmoor five or six years ago with my parents and neice & nephew, and having to use snow to put out the fire in the car engine… We still had a great time!

  • Joe Pattison
    January 10, 2015

    There’s no better feeling than skiing down a slope in knee-deep powder! Love the blog πŸ™‚

  • Fay Conroy
    January 10, 2015

    I am remember having so much snow in our garden as a youngster that we were actually able to build an igloo. My mum, dad and brother all helped, using a spade to dig out the snow. It was amazing. We took a little stove in and cooked fried mushrooms- mushrooms???- don’t ask me why! Good times!

  • Angela Kelly
    January 10, 2015

    My brother decided to build a snowman that was bigger than either of us. My job was manual labour, I had to collect binload after binload of snow. He compacted it then sculpted the snowman, I’ve never seen a better one.

  • Erica Price
    January 10, 2015

    Having to carry my little son to school through the snow because it came up over the tops of his wellies.

  • kristin burdsall
    January 10, 2015

    Me, my dad and our Labrador being the first ones to the best hill with our sledge on Christmas day when i was little. I just remember sitting on the sledge with my dad sat behind me, racing down the hill with the dog chasing after us πŸ™‚

  • Angela Paull
    January 10, 2015

    2 years ago we had a reasonable snowfall in Hampshire – my wee man was 18 months at the time so it was his first experience of donning a snowsuit and taking a walk in it (he wasn’t keen lol – but a lovely Chinese lady helped him through the park)

  • Mandy
    January 10, 2015

    I have so many, but I love the one of our dear German shepherd catching snowballs and out little one at the time asking us..” Mum why does the snow turn yellow if Sabre runs around ” lol

  • kelandab22
    January 10, 2015

    A couple of winters ago we made the hugest snowball going, the only problem being that we made it in the middle of the road and we couldn’t shift it so we had to pretend it wasn’t us who made it to the neighbours who had to dig it up to get their cars out! – all the effort with no glory πŸ˜‰

  • Rebecca Hodson
    January 11, 2015

    When I was a kid we had one winter where the drifts blew up against the side of the house, creating piles of snow several feet deep. My brother and I decided that we would do what every kid dreams of doing; build an igloo. It didn’t quite work out the way you see on television, but we managed to build a small shelter (complete with domed roof) that the two of us, plus our Labrador, Sally, could fit inside. Once that was completed we decided to go one further and build an escape tunnel. We burrowed through the drifts like a couple of overgrown moles, creating a very narrow tunnel that ran for around ten feet. Considering that it popped up in the middle of the lawn, the escape tunnel wasn’t quite a secretive as we had hoped – especially when the dog decided to follow us down and, having got stuck, stood up and collapsed the roof. Mind you, this was the same dog who came sledging with us every winter and sat on the front of the sledge. I have a photograph somewhere with my mom on the back of the sledge and Sally sitting on the front with snow piled up between her front paws. Bless her, she never once attempted to get off that sledge!

  • Andrea Johnson
    January 11, 2015

    building my daughter’s first snowman πŸ™‚

  • Adam Curson
    January 11, 2015

    I have lots of memories but my most precious was boxing day last month. I had access to my daughter so we had a late Christmas, Seeing her eyes light up as she realised it was snowing was amazing. We wrapped up and ran around the garden catching snowflakes on our tongues.

  • Sylvia Gill
    January 11, 2015

    My best snow memory was back in the late 1960’s, there was a lot of snow, and my mum would take a gang of kids down to the local park, we couldn’t afford sledges, so took big plastic bags (from mum’s work who produced Epsom salts) and the tin lid from her washing machine, we speeded down the slopes like lightning, and all the other kids who has proper sledges asked to have a go on our bags and tin lids! we’d stay all day, we never felt cold or got fed-up… we were having so much fun, and I’m forever grateful to my lovely mum (now gone) for her self-lessness and always giving up her time… fun always came before chores or herself. x

  • Charlotte Hoskins
    January 11, 2015

    My daughter was born in April. Having been in the hospital for hours, I remember looking out the window and seeing a white blanket. She hasn’t seen snow since!

  • Alison Edwards
    January 11, 2015

    A few years ago I took my young son (who had not long learnt to say “I’m bored”) and my elderly Grandad to church on Christmas Day. Although I always love the Christmas Day service, this particular day I had spent most of the keeping the toddler busy and stopping Grandad falling asleep and crashing off his pew onto the floor! As we walked out of church at the end of the service we were greeted with the sight of beautiful swirling flakes of snow. I guess on that particular Christmas Day the beauty of Christmas was to be found not just in church, but all around!

  • emma kinsey
    January 11, 2015

    when i was a kid me and my cousins were snapped in the local paper on pur sledge we were on front pae

  • LEE HARDY
    January 11, 2015

    I remember when I was younger about 20 years again my boss’s wife car got stuck in the snow in a supermarket carpark & I went in the snow & jump started it with my mini the old style one. Alot of the other cars were stuck in the snow but my old style mini could get through. Had a washing up glove over the distributor cap to stop water getting in classic car maintenance.

  • Lesley Stevens
    January 11, 2015

    I recall the time my children and myself made snow angels. Great fun x

  • Tracy Gladman
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite memory is when my daughter was two and we won a family skiing holiday to France. We had never been skiing and she had never really seen snow before – it was magical.

  • claire toplis
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite snow memory is went ti went sledging in finland

  • Sharon Bell
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite snow memory is when I was younger around about 4 or 5, it was the first real time I can remember snow and my dad took my brother and I to the park with our sledges and we sledged all afternoon, it was fantastic.

  • Victoria Easton
    January 11, 2015

    I was about 6 and I remember taking ages getting ready for the snow, hat, Wellington boots etc. The snow was so deep that when I stepped from the patio into the garden it was above my waist, so my sisters and I turned around and went back in – it took approx 5 minutes each way! We found it hilarious!

  • Jannette Roden
    January 11, 2015

    The best memory i have is i made a really good igloo when i was young,I used my nans plastic washing up bowl in the shape of a round circle this made really good snow bricks we kept going with the bricks until we had the round circular shape for the roof my grandad used a wood board and then we put snow bricks over the top it was bout 4ft high and looked like a proper igloo it was warm inside me and the dog loved it,It was magical at the time a memory i will cherish x

  • ellen
    January 11, 2015

    my favourite snow memory was last year in Canada, i have never seen so much snow before, i was working in canada in a day care, and myself and the children in my care made Giant snowmen, they had so much fun, as did i.

  • Robby Price
    January 11, 2015

    All the kids rolling huge snowballs and putting them at the front and back of my car !!!

  • HazelY
    January 11, 2015

    Oh, so difficult! Perhaps the first time we took our dog, Sebbie, for a walk in the snow near Ham House in Richmond (which was gorgeous). He bounded up and down in the snow like a spring lamb, jumping all over the place, with such a look of joy and pleasure on his face! It made us laugh so hard. A lovely, lovely memory of a still much missed companion.

  • Helen Craigs
    January 11, 2015

    When my 3 children were aged about 2, 4 and 8 we lived in a street of about 10 houses and one day when we’d had loads of snow all the dads in the street got together and built a snowman about 8 foot tall with a traffic cone for his hat. The kids in the street were all amazed!

  • Jeanette
    January 11, 2015

    The year we moved to the Scottish Highlands we arrived to snow, snow and more snow. We spent the next few days “sledging” down the hill next to the house on plastic bags.

  • Lynn Fullarton
    January 11, 2015

    Remember when I was a child living in the Scotland highlands, now that was real snow! So beautiful. I used to go sledging with my brother, still remember how much fun I had – and how very very cold and wet I was… ha.

  • Jade
    January 11, 2015

    I liked getting the day off school and getting to spend the day with the family having snowball fights, building snowmen and going for a walk to see how pretty it looks.

  • susan Trubey
    January 11, 2015

    I hate snow

  • Kevin Minihane
    January 11, 2015

    When I was going home from school, 30 years ago, There was a massive snowball fight with pupils from my school and the local firemen, who had started to rain snowballs down from the roof of their fire station. Fatastic

  • Helen
    January 11, 2015

    I used to take my children to a local hill to slide down on their sledges. One winter our labrador dog, who had watched the children several times over the years, decided to join in. She ran along the ridge of the hill and then flipped on her back and slid down the hill with the children, she did this over and over again, much to the delight of all the children at the hill that day. Though its been many years, and she is no longer with us, whenever we see snow on a hill, we remember that snowy winter and our beloved dog.

  • Harley
    January 11, 2015

    I broke my leg at the end of November, got relegated from the leading role as Mary in the school nativity and glumly participated in the rest of the festivities from the safety of a chair. My big brother and I got new bikes for christmas, he cruelly played out the front on his whilst the christmas dinner cooked I watched him from the window sighing out my awful casted leg. The end of January I got my cast removed and as we got home from the hospital it began it snow. I made the best snowman ever (maybe not artistically the best but after such a drab christmas I thought it was amazing!) and when I came home from school I bragged about how much fun I had making it. It really made up for watching his best biking whilst cooped up inside!!

  • Leanne Perrett
    January 11, 2015

    i grew up in switzerland and was guaranteed snow every winter and miss it but spending your child hood with it al around was so magical snowmen building and snow angles sking i wish my children could experiance that too

  • Kelly Priestley
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite snow memory was skyping my family at christmas time when i went travelling and i was in Australia it had been snowing in the UK and practically the whole of the hotel/pub i was living in was crowding round the computer screen to catch a glimpse of the white stuff as most of them had never seen it before! Grown men and women alike crowding round watching the family dog bound through the snow outside my mums house!!

  • Julie kenny
    January 11, 2015

    My daughter had never seen snow. At 3 years old we woke her up dressed her and went outside at midnight and played it was magical

  • sa
    January 11, 2015

    walking through a patch of drifted snow as a child & falling though it so that it went over my head. i was only a few inches below the top level but thought my number was up. I panicked, chucked snow everywhere before realising what a muppet I was and that I could easily escape. I went a built a snow igloo after that!

  • gordon taylor
    January 11, 2015

    Last time we had a major snow fall we did not have a sleigh between us but what we did have was several homemade wooden canoes, seemed like a good idea at the time and at close to 17ft x 3.5ft can easily accommodate 3 generations in one go. It went down the hill straight enough just was not expecting it to go so fast not that it seemed to bother my kid’s or grandchild with there screams of joy as we flew down the hill. down side was that they wanted more and pulling a 17 foot canoe back up a steep hill at my age turnes your leg’s to jelly lol

  • Jo Pilkington
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite memory is when walking to school in our moon boots (showing my age!), we would run in and out of gardens stepping on the new fallen snow.

  • Angela Buckley
    January 11, 2015

    My most favourite snowy memory is sitting in an outside heated thermal baths in Budapest while it snowed down on us. It was surreal and amazing at the same time. I’d love to go back again.

  • Claire Ward
    January 11, 2015

    My best memory is sledding with my dad in the local golf gourse

  • bunyip2104
    January 11, 2015

    My boxer cross dog is 7 years old but acts more like a 7 month old. Every year when it snows it’s like she’s never seen it before and runs around like a lunatic.

  • Kim W
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite memory is my husband and I in the ski resort of Whistler, Canada and learning to ski. Great fun. And wonderfully, and magically, the sun was shining and we were standing on snow and in tee shirts!

  • sarah argent
    January 11, 2015

    It started to snow the day i brought my son Owen home from hospital for the first time. My mother told me that the same had happened 35 years earlier when I was born and taken home to the same house.

  • Jamie Radford
    January 11, 2015

    My favourite memory is when we had a BBQ outside in the snow. We had beer can Turkey, sweet potato fried and mulled wine-lovely stuff!

  • Natalie Crossan
    January 11, 2015

    When I was 13, I was lucky enough to be picked out of a whole year of students to go on an all expenses paid 2 week trip to Russia. I was thrilled, there were 7 students from 7 schools across the UK… We were supposed to be there to soak in the culture and learn the language organically with really expensive Russian tutors laid on..
    Unfortunately for the lovely Russian tutors, us English kids were all utterly fascinated by the snow. For the first 2-3 days we stared out the window during Russian language class, we took every opportunity to dive in the snow/have snow fights and make snow angels.. We even participated in 6am walks where the temperature dropped to -30c and we were able to walk over the frozen sea.
    What an utterly breathtaking experience for any Western teen who has only ever experienced inconvenient bursts of snow to have two weeks in a white winter wonderland πŸ™‚ It was wonderful!!

  • christine clegg
    January 11, 2015

    snow balling with my mum,we were both adults, but giggling and laughing like kids,we were wet through the kids thought we were mad,

  • Kate Smith
    January 11, 2015

    My dad, a couple of friends and I went to Snowdonia one March and everywhere was completely locked up in snow and ice. We went for a walk up one of the quieter mountains, Yr Aran, and we had pretty much virgin snow all the way. I was treading in the footsteps of the others, as it was quite deep! The view from the top was amazing, with the most fantastic light out towards the estuary. On the way down, the snow was so deep that it came right up to my hips. We tried running through it, but inevitably fell over. We had such a good laugh.

  • Beverley Neighbour
    January 11, 2015

    Seeing my baby grandson tentatively stepping out onto the first snow of his life. Wonderful πŸ™‚

  • Joy Dehany
    January 11, 2015

    TO be honest, at one point it would have been when my dad made a huge igloo out of snow we could all get in (back when we used to get proper snow) but now it’s about my little girl. She was coming up to 2 years old, it had snowed very heavily so we dressed her up warm and my husband took her out side to see the snow. She just stood there with her arms outstretched saying “wow” at the snowflakes falling gently onto her hands. She was mesmerised by it, and didn’t want to come in. She looked so calm and peaceful, it’s a memory I’ll treasure forever.

  • claire little
    January 11, 2015

    building our first snowman as a family πŸ™‚

  • Charmaine Godolphin
    January 12, 2015

    My favorite memory is of the time it snowed in the freestate in south africa. My sister and i had never seen snow and unlike your snow which is lovely and white, the snow we saw had somehow mixed with the red dust that makes the freestates sunsets so amazing.

  • Karen Painter
    January 12, 2015

    Carol singing in Dickensian costumes by candlelight in the local village when it started to snow a few days before Christmas one year.

  • Val Pownall
    January 12, 2015

    I can remember one really bad winter when I was small, waking one morning to the deepest snow I’ve ever seen, or seen since. My dad had to dig a pathway down to the front gate so we could leave the house, and the snow at both sides was higher than my head. I was probably only about 6 at the time but it was a lot of snow, and very exciting.

  • tracey baker
    January 12, 2015

    When I was about 10 and my mum was pregnant with my younger brother we were trying to get home and we lived in Windmill Hill, Glastonbury. It was very icy and extremely hard work especially for my mum we ended up having to near enough crawl up some parts but we laughed so much we both thought we would wet ourself my best time ever in the snow!!

  • Samantha R
    January 12, 2015

    Winter 2013 was particularly bad here for snow, we had a 6 year old and a baby and could not get out of the house with a pram, we had to bumble the kids into a sledge covered in blankets and drag them around

  • karen slattery
    January 12, 2015

    We spent Xmas in Ireland a couple of years ago, on Xmas Eve our 2 daughters went to bed excited about Santa’s arrival, on Xmas morning they were thrilled as not only did the discover a stocking full of presents but also opened the curtains to find it had snowed heavily during the night, they didn’t know what to do first play in the snow or open their presents.

  • PAUL STANLEY
    January 12, 2015

    My favourite memory was over 30 years ago, when I went out walking in a total ‘White-out’ with my new girlfriend. We just walked and talked, there were no other people out and about – and no vehicles on the road. We got to know a lot about one another. It obviously worked out, as we will soon celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

  • cuddlebunny1974
    January 12, 2015

    making a snowman with my dad that was bigger than me

  • victoria thurgood
    January 12, 2015

    for me it was watching my son who was only one walk on the snow for the first time

  • vicky Hulme
    January 12, 2015

    I remember when it snowed on Christmas day I think it was 2005 and I was 16. It was the best Christmas present that year, all the children on the street came out and sledged together, built snowman and had the best fun ever. Eventually the parents came out and everyone was on the street chatting and exchanging best wishes for Christmas. It was a Christmas I will never forget

  • Catherine Gregory
    January 12, 2015

    When I was a teenager back in the early 90s, Blackpool had the heaviest snow since 1981. I loved the fact it was up to my knees and spending my days off school playing out in it, the best memories

  • catuk
    January 12, 2015

    The snow of the early 90s here in Blackpool, it was upto my knees! I loved the days off school playing with my friends, making snowmen, snowball fights. The best times

  • Becky Martin
    January 12, 2015

    Doing a charity calendar at university with all of the other girls from football (now friends for life). We were completely – but tastefully!!! – absolutely naked bar our wellington boots.. but the snow was so high it was coming in over the top of them! There was so much squealing I thought I was starting to go deaf but in the end we got the photo done which was a massive confidence boost to us all and raised a good few thousand for charity with the other societies involved.

    You’ve never known snow until you’ve been naked in a goalpost! πŸ™‚

  • Becci Cleary
    January 12, 2015

    Running out of the pub where I worked excited for the snow and falling flat on my face #UltimateFail

  • Linda Allen
    January 12, 2015

    I was about 4 in 1970 and mum & dad bought us a swing set but it was one of the few Christmas days it snowed and it wasn’t just a flurry but it didn’t stop us enjoying our new swing.

  • Heather Tinkler
    January 12, 2015

    I remember spending a whole day making a snow igloo with my brothers. It was huge. We used toyboxes to pack with snow and make bricks. When we were done we all went inside and drank hot chocolate. It was brilliant, we all managed to sit inside comfortably. We put an old rug down to sit on and even used an old piece of decking as a door. It lasted the next day but then it melted too much, but the walls remained like a castle ruin for over a week!

  • Zoe Roxby
    January 12, 2015

    When I had a japanese ikita we stapped the sled to his harness and he pulled the kids along on the sled he and the kids loved it so much when we went to take the sled off him he growled at us. was the funniest thing ever. so everytime we got the sled out rocky jumped and got excited tail wagging in the air was the best memory of snow time ever.

  • champaklal lad
    January 12, 2015

    Snowboarding in Colorado, USA, doing a cartwheel down the slope

  • Gemma Matthews
    January 12, 2015

    My favourite snow memory is going to the cinema with my best friend and her mum to watch free willy, we were about 10, we got out the cinema and everywhere was white, we started walking home as my friends mums car was snowed in and a tractor picked us up and drove us home, chugging along in a white wonderland on a tractor was amazing to two ten year olds πŸ™‚ x

  • Natalie Gillham
    January 12, 2015

    My favourite snow memory was when I was 14 and at the end of a sadder than usual christmas day, soon after my parents had separated and our nan died when me and my younger brother went out for a walk in the snow where we chatted and reflective on our recent challenges and our plans for the future. I always remember that walk with fondness as I felt very close to my brother at the time.

    • Sarah Alexandra George
      January 19, 2015

      That sounds like a sad but beautiful bonding session with your brother – hope you’re still close x

  • Emma
    January 13, 2015

    This isn’t a normal story about snow,
    Of children, sledges, and a man with a carrot nose.
    There was no moment of realisation,
    No change in the way the earth rotated.
    Weather didn’t save my life,
    Or help me say goodbye,
    But fell on the streets of Kyoto,
    As I sat by the Golden Pavilion cold,
    And smiled.

    • Sarah Alexandra George
      January 19, 2015

      I love this! Very talented indeed Ms Emma! Shall I feature it as a guest poem on the good old blog? πŸ™‚

  • Sarah Alexandra George
    January 19, 2015

    This competition has now closed. Any additional comments will no longer be counted in the prize draw. Thanks! πŸ™‚

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