Walking in the air with 12ft snowman

The April snow may be gone, but one Shropshire family made the most of the cold weather to build a magnificent 12-foot tall snowman.

Three generations of the Challoner family, from Stiperstones, spent four hours yesterday afternoon creating the giant after waking up to find six inches of snowfall in their garden.

John Challoner, 49, a landscape architect, and his two sons Tim, 27, and Will, 21, helped to create the towering snowman. And Tim's three daughters, Jasmine, 7, Caitlin, 6, Maisy, 2, also joined in the fun.

John said: "We woke up and the snow was coming down thick and fast. We had about six inches. It was quite dry and powdery in the morning, but it turned into wet snow, making it easier to stick together.

"You've got to get a good wide base and that allows you to build it high.We used shovels, but once it got to a certain height we put the ladder up."

The family even commandeered snow from the nearby Stiperstones Primary School complete the snowman. John, a seasoned snowman creator, added: "It is still there today, but we haven't had any comments from neighbours – they are probably used to our snowmen!"

See also:

• Shropshire wakes up to snowy scenes

• Shropshire snow in spring – Your pictures