No Bettynh, our soil never freezes solid! We have the Gulf Stream which is a sea current that brings warmth up from the south, and keeps the UK a little bit warmer than other countries on the same latitude. This winter, it's hardly gone below freezing at all, and not one flake of snow, but in 2010 it went down to minus 10, totally weird for us. In the farmers' fields around our village, the rapeseed is in full flower (bright yellow) and many bees and even some butterflies have woken up a bit early and are glad of the rapeseed nectar for some nourishment.