This is my first spring in England, and I've been told that the weather is quite exceptional for this time of year - day after day of sun, increasingly warm temperatures, stretching on as far as one can see over Easter! I'm loving it, and my garden is loving it too!

However we'll get a dose of the cold when we spend Easter in Aberdeen - well, colder than it is here in Somerset anyway. There is so little rain around, that we have had to make arrangements with a neighbour to come in and water things while we are gone.

It's interesting - we had the snow and freezing fog in winter earlier than usual, and now spring has sprung with a vengeance with nary a sign of the occasional frost that usually plagues this place in April. Looks like summer will be early too. It almost feels like summer already with temps regularly reaching 20 degrees or higher!