HOW many people can you fit into an igloo?

This impressive video shows the snow shelters can be surprisingly spacious.

Reader Phil Longhurst, 28, decided to make the most of the icy conditions and build his own igloo this weekend.

It took four-and-a-half hours for Mr Longhurst of Great Cornard, and a team of his family and friends to build the den in his father-in-law’s back garden on Sunday.

Built using ice cream cartons to make bricks of snow, the impressive 5ft structure can fit three adults and five children sitting inside.

“It was quite good fun,” Mr Longhurst said. “Everyone helped out.

“It is quite cold inside but everyone is impressed generally.”

As well as making the ice bricks, Mr Longhurst said the hardest part of the challenge was creating the domed roof of the traditional Inuit home.

Now complete, the snow shelter can fit three adults and five children inside.

Mr Longhurst said he decided to make an igloo, having built one previously when he was 10 years old.

“I wanted to do it because it was a childhood memory,” he said. “Everyone liked the idea and helped out.”

With freezing temperatures set to continue for a few days to come, Mr Longhurst said he expected the building to be around for a few days yet.

“If it stays as cold as this, it should last into the new year,” he said.