PARTS of North Yorkshire were badly hit by snow, as a number of schools closed and communities struggled with more than five inches of snow.

The east of the county appeared to bear the brunt today (Wednesday, February 4), with the Whitby area and North York Moors experiencing several inches of snow by mid-morning.

At the White Horse Farm Inn at Rosedale Abbey, on the moors above Pickering, a number of guests were unable to reach the pub, as some roads became treacherous.

About six guests had to cancel their bookings for rooms at the 16th century inn.

Christine Cullen, one of the owners and managers of the inn said a number of the pub's staff living in and around Ryedale were also unable to reach work.

“The snowflakes that fell this morning looked as big as snowballs. It eased off a little bit this afternoon, but we’re preparing for more snow to come," she said.

“It does look lovely; the scene is absolutely spectacular. You can just about get in and out of the village; they’re trying to keep the road clear with snow ploughs for the school run and there’s a dairy farm that needs to needs to transport milk in and out of the area.

"I would say at the very least there's five inches of snow.”

Farndale farmer Peter Mawson, which rears and produces rare breed, free range lamb and pork, estimated there was 14 to 15cm of snow by noon, with snowfall continuing throughout the day. Mr Mawson spent much of the day checking on animals, clearing thick snow from feed troughs and bringing extra food to the fields.

Snow also caused chaos on the roads. Dozens of motorists have crashed on the roads of York and North Yorkshire today, as the region has again faced icy and snowy conditions.

By 2.45pm today, North Yorkshire Police had been called to 34 accidents, including eight in York.

Nobody has been seriously injured and 33 of the accidents were classed as minor, apart from at West Tanfield near Ripon, where a car overturned.

A car also overturned on the Guisborough bypass in the morning.

North Yorkshire Police tweeted from their official Twitter account: “The roads around Whitby are extremely treacherous - even our 4x4s are having difficulty. Avoid the roads if at all possible."

Six schools in the area are closed: Lealholm CP School, Egton Bridge, St Hedda's RC Primary School, Egton CE Primary School, Hinderwell, Oakridge CP School, Gillamoor CP School and Danby CE Primary School. Ryedale Folk Museum, at Hutton-le-Hole, also had to close.