Get ready, the summer could be about to arrive.  After one of the coldest and wettest Easter weekends on record, the long-awaited warm weather appears to be just round the corner.

At long last, temperatures are set to reach 18-20C in many parts of the UK next week, bringing to an end a desperately difficult time for farmers - and for garden machinery dealers. (it was the No1 topic of conversation at the AEA Conference this week)

But beware, April can be fickle as everyone knows. Met office records for the period 1981 to 2010 show an average of 2.3 days of snow in the UK during April.

And just in case the sunshine should lull you into a sense of false security, it is worth recalling that on 26th April 1981, 25cm of snow fell in Okehampton, Devon, whilst in snowed every day somewhere in the UK between 1-6 May 1979.

Still, hasten on with those winter repairs, it’s just about to get hectic!