RESIDENTS in Chepstow and the Wye Valley woke up to three inches of snow on Friday morning which caused some chaos and disruption in the area.

Two cars collided on the Tintern road near St Arvans, causing traffic tail-backs. Police and recovery vehicles were soon on the scene to clear the road.

Meanwhile children living in Mathern had to be ferried to school by cars after their school buses failed to turn up.

One Mathern resident Nikki Evans, witnessed the pleasure and disruption the weather brought. She said: "I couldn't believe how much snow was on the ground when I opened the curtains this morning. It looked really beautiful and the children were throwing snowballs at each other. The buses didn't turn up to take the youngsters and bigger children to school, so they were being ushered into cars instead. Everyone was pulling together - it was heart-warming to see."

Other areas in the region seemed less affected by the weather, with a thin layer of snow covering Undy and Magor.

Free Press editor Andy Downie, who moved into Chepstow from London with his wife just four months ago is having a rude awakening to the Welsh weather.

He says: "I'm beginning to wonder where we've moved to. Last week you couldn't see a hand in front of you when we had heavy fog - it took me two hours to get to work one morning, whereas it usually only takes me half an hour. Now we've had all this snow. By the time I got into Newport there was no snow to be seen - no-one believed me when I told them how bad it was in Chepstow."