Outdoors skills taught by the Scouts have helped a girl from Guilsfield use last week's snow to build her own Igloo.

Eva Bird, 10, with help from her elder sister Lexy, 16, spent most of Friday and Saturday, designing and building her snow shelter in the back garden.

Eva's Mum, Tracy Bird explained: "It kept them busy while we had the snow!

"On Friday, Eva took the time to design her igloo on a blackboard.

"She then used a huge Tupperware box to cut the blocks to build the igloo."

Tracy continued: "It took ages.

"She started on Friday and was up first thing on Saturday to continue to work on the igloo."

"I think in total she spent, seven to eight hours building the igloo.

"Eva spent time playing in it, we had cushions and a ground sheet inside, and she enjoyed doing that.

Pilates teacher, Tracy added: "Eva's a scout and I think she used some of the skills that she learnt there to help build her igloo.

"We've been living here in Guilsfield for the last three years, we come from the Highlands of Scotland and are an outdoorsy family who are used to the snow.

"I think this is only the second time we've had snow while living here, so for Eva it was a treat."

But with the temperatures rising bringing about an end to the big freeze, the igloo is in danger of becoming just a puddle of water.

Tracy added: "It's already melting which is sad to see."

The Igloo also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of snow, typically built when the snow can be easily compacted.

Although igloos are stereotypically associated with all Eskimo peoples they were traditionally associated with people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenland's Thule area.

Other Inuit people tended to use snow to insulate their houses, which were constructed from whalebone and hides.

Snow is used because the air pockets trapped in it makes it an insulator.

On the outside, temperatures may be as low as −45 °C , but on the inside the temperature may range from −7 °C (19 °F) to 16 °C (61 °F) when warmed by body heat alone.