Brrr, yesterday was a frosty reminder that we’re not quite out of winter yet, but I’m in no hurry. Am still loving how gorgeous everything looks coated in white with a halo of low lying morning sun.

Down South we tend to get the more common variety of frost, which is just dew that has settled and frozen, but on my recent foray into the mountains of North Wales I discovered a more spectacular variety known as hoar frost.

We thought there had in fact been a dusting snow that morning, but on closer inspection it was a thick, crystal shaped frost that was clinging to reeds, twigs and branches giving them an icing sugar look.

It happens when the air cools and water condenses rapidly, creating complex icy structures. When objects lose heat into open clear skies, they become colder than the surrounding air and allow hoar frost to form.

If there hasn’t been any snow or rain but the temperatures are cold enough, then ice forms on surfaces directly from the air.

Any Northerners reading this will probably have seen it a million times, but for a Southerner who’s more used to mild, soggy winters, this was a real winter treat.

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