It rarely snows in the southwest of England - other than on the tops of Exmoor or Dartmoor, but this week the heavens opened and a cascade of snow fell across some of the LettsSafari parks. Our photographers headed out to give us a little white relief.

The black fallow deer in LettsSafari’s Dawlish Park are masters at foraging through the snow to find green shoots. They also congregate more around the forest floor where there is less snow cover.

In Exeter’s Capability Brown gardens the layers of snow thinned as the photographers headed down the valley - but up in the cascade gardens it was really quite thick. To protect the more tropical plants the snow had to be dusted off with brooms!

In LettsSafari’s Sunrise Park the tops were densely packed with snow. The Soay darting around for cover. Their northern roots make them a shoe-in for the weather.

This ancient cedar tree has seen it all before. It was planted by Capability Brown as a small sapling over 250 years ago. It is also one of the tallest trees in southwest England, approaching 70 metres tall. Its ability to store carbon and shelter wildlife is impressive to say the least.

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The Capability Brown lake became a frozen, mystic mirror - a nod to its ancient past. The covered walkways surrounding it were speckled with white on top of stiff frozen leaves that crunched underfoot.

Ok, so maybe this magnificent beast can’t yet be found at a LettsSafari park - but, perhaps, one day…

If you have any photos of the snowy weather in wilder settings, please share them with us @LettsSafari on twitter or Instagram.

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