Scots Lead The Way With Scorching Sunday Sun

A 47-year-old temperature record has been smashed with the weekend's peak being in sun-kissed Scotland.

The highest temperature of 22.8C (73F) was recorded at Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire, beating the previous March high of 22.2C set in 1965, the Met Office said.

Elsewhere across the United Kingdom large swathes of the country continued to bask in settled and warm weather.

The UK continued to be warmer than more southerly parts of continental Europe, including Barcelona, Nice, Majorca and Faro in Portugal - none of which saw temperatures in the 20s.

The warm and dry weather is set to continue to bless Britain this week.

Meteorologist Claire Austin said: "It's exceptionally warm for this time of year with high pressure leading to still conditions across most of the country.

"But there is very little cloud cover which means it will remain chilly overnight."

Temperatures are to remain high before declining back to a more seasonal average of 11-12C by next weekend.

The contrast in the weather between Scotland and Wales - which saw temperatures of 20.1C at Gogerddan - and areas of the South and East of England is due to fog cover, forecasters said.

The temperature at Manston in Kent struggled to just 6C by 2pm on Sunday, with Weybourne on the north coast of Norfolk only managing 6.4C.

At Kew Gardens in west London the maximum temperature was 14.1C, compared to 19.6 on Saturday.

The start to the weekend saw thousands of Brits flock to Brighton beach in Sussex and else around the coastline.

:: Temperatures look set to hit around 19C later on Monday in some areas as people head back to work.