Met Office forecasters said it was "odds-on for a barbecue summer" with warmer than average temperatures and near or below-average rainfall.

And that will come as music to the ears of the millions that have chosen to holiday in the UK.

Ewen McCallum, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "After two disappointingly wet summers, the signs are much more promising this year.

"We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30C, something we hardly saw at all last year."

The Met Office said that while there may be showers, a repeat of the miserable summers of 2007 and 2008 is unlikely