Well I've done my numbers, all collected from my garden. I'm pleased that they generally tally very well with the numbers at the Bude meteorological station, three miles away, bearing in mind that the Bude one is coastal at sea level (just about) and that mine is half a mile inland, much more sheltered and is 120 feet above sea level (safe from the worst tsunami that the Bristol Channel can throw at us!)

Our average maximum for July was over four degrees Celsius above the 30-year average, 23.4C as opposed to 19.3C.

The bulk of the UK has had the driest July ever recorded (records go back to the 1830s). We've also had the highest-ever recorded temperatures, with 46 recording stations beating the UK record that was set only three years ago. The UK beat its record by 1.6C and Bude beat its own record (set in 1976) by 3.7C and the all-time Cornwall record by 2.1C (smashing the Devon record to boot).

Every county needs its resident meteorological geek... ;-)