Buxton expat family treated to snowfall in High Peak and Spain

Former Burbage Primary School pupil Gregory Foulger told how he flew back into Madrid this month after visiting family back home to find the ‘whole city was white with snow’.

Spain was in the midst of Storm Filomena - causing the heaviest snowfall the country has seen in 50 years.

The additional winter weather gave Gregory’s excited children Sophie and Santiago the chance to build three snowmen in total.

Gregory, 38, had returned to Buxton with his wife Sandra and their two children on December 18 to spend Christmas with his parents.

The end of the family’s 10 days of quarantine coincided with two days of snow in the High Peak - giving Santiago, 7 and Sophie, 5, their first real experience of a proper winter wonderland.

Insurance worker Gregory said: “It was great because there’s not much to do during Covid - you would normally go to a pantomime or Chatsworth House but none of that was possible.

“So with the snow we spent hours sledging at Cavendish Golf Club and you could keep your distance from people too.”

However the family were shocked upon coming in to land back in Madrid to find the city buried under ‘40-50cm’ of snow.

Gregory said: “We got back just in time really - just as it was starting.”

Not long after the family began their 45-minute drive home a plane chartered by Real Madrid was stuck on the runway and the city’s Barajas Airport was closed.

The dad-of-two said: “We were lucky in lots of ways - we managed to avoid getting stuck in the snow and travel problems with Brexit and Covid.”

Speaking about the snow back in Madrid Gregory told how one day the family had no water as their pipes had frozen.

However he said: “The kids were so excited the morning after we landed and we opened the shutters - it just didn’t stop snowing for 24 hours.

“We managed to get out and play in it for a couple of days but unfortunately we left the sledge back in Buxton.”

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