Who ever said Land Rovers are not very good in mud or snow are talking absolute crap. They are for sure the best for this type of work.
The Freelander 1 is a good all round car, the only one to suffer head gasket failure was the 1.8 K-Series, but most will have been sorted by now. If you don't mind the extra bit of fuel, get a Freelander V6, they are also very cheap as people tend to shy away from the bigger engines, but the KV6 engine is pretty bullet proof.
The TD4's are the ones to go for. I very much doubt you will see any winter conditions in this country that will stop a Land Rover.
I have a Freelander 2 TD4 and last winter I towed out of the snow, a Ford Kuga, BMW X3 and a Mercedes ML.
Stick to Land Rover.