Many children enjoyed a day off as snow closed several schools

Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham was closed to traffic and settling snow caused some problems on the M5.

In Wiltshire, nearly 50 schools were closed and 19 accidents were reported to police in the space of five hours - between 0400GMT and 0900GMT.

Bristol International Airport had to close its runway temporarily, but it has now reopened.

Tony Halwood, aviation development director, said: "Up to 9 am this morning a total of 17 outbound flights were delayed, in addition to which, six outbound flights and three inbound flights were cancelled due to heavy snow fall."

'Minimal disruption'

He added: "A team of over 30 people remain in place to clear snow in and around the airport so that operations can continue with minimal disruption."

Some Bristol schools have also been affected by the heavy snowfall.

Elmey Junior School is closed. St Teresa's primary school is open, but mini-buses are not running.

In Bath, the Link special school and St Gregory's Catholic College are closed.

And Dundry Church of England primary school in North Somerset is also closed.

Travel advice

Refuse collections in the Forest of Dean have been suspended although residents are asked to continue to leave their rubbish out until it can be collected.

Wiltshire County Council was advising people only to travel if necessary.

The A345 was shut between Salisbury and Amesbury early on Thursday after a lorry jack-knifed.

The A36 at Pepperbox Hill was closed briefly while firefighters removed the roof of a car to release a man.

Wiltshire Police spokesman Graham Chivers said: "All of the (19) accidents were minor in nature and, whilst there were minor roadblocks in a variety of places, there was nothing serious, fortunately."