Guests who were snowed together for five days at Britain's highest pub have exchanged phone numbers and pledged to stay in touch.
Freddie Swift, 39, was traveling with his partner, boss and friends when he got stuck at the Tan Hill Inn in North Yorkshire, which is located 1,732 feet above sea level.
They were part of a group of 23 guests and six staff who were stuck in the pub for five days.
Staff, who had been at the bar since New Year's Eve, remained trapped alongside two remaining guests until Thursday, when another shift finally managed to rescue them.
Among the workers who were relieved were the inn's housekeeper, Babs Phillips, 51, who missed the birth of her new granddaughter, Amelia, and bartender Kelly Dunn, 42, who missed her daughter's 18th birthday.
“It was nice to be stuck in the snow and back to reality, there are people everywhere in London,” Swift said. “It's been a great experience and a great adventure, but obviously we need to come back to reality at some point, but honestly it's been a bit of a shock.”
Swift said Tuesday's escape came with almost no notice as guests were told to be ready for a quick exit.
“The chef told us we would have a small window where we could be rescued and get out, and there would be farmers coming in on a snowplow but they didn't know what time,” Swift added.
“We just had to be prepared, we had to pack our bags and be ready to go when they got there because they wouldn't wait, it was like 'get in your car and go now', and that was the issue.
“My partner, Nathan, was in the bathroom at the time and I thought to myself: ‘You need to get out of the bathroom now, we’ll go’.”
Once they got to the road, getting out wasn't quick at all.
It took the bar's guests one hour to travel the seven miles from the pub to the A66.
“It's very bendy and windy, and there's obviously ice under the snow, so we just had to take it really slow and be careful, and really follow the tractor,” Swift recalls. “All you could see were the white fields, and the visibility was better because the sun was out, but all you could see were the white fields.
Swift is happy that he can finally eat something different.
“There were just certain things that when you were trying to get to the menu, it would be nice to have chicken fajitas or some pasta,” Swift said. “We went through most of the starters, we had the Yorkshire pudding which is one of their specialties, the fish and chips, all the typical pub classics, working through that menu has been there for four days.”
“It's been a long, hard week for my staff and I'd like to echo the praise they've had from the snowed-in guests,” Tan Hill Inn owner Andrew Healds said.
“The isolation of the hostel poses unique problems, not just because of the weather, and you have to be a special person to work there.”
The owner said the staff went about their daily duties making sure the 23 visitors felt comfortable.
“These traditions go back to a time when the door of Tan Hill was never closed to a traveler in bad weather. That's not something we're going to start doing now,” Healds said.
