The colours may be glorious, but the cold is coming

As if nature were making a small conciliatory gesture for the appalling weather that blighted this year's summer, deciduous trees are bursting into glorious explosions of autumnal red and gold.

Tree experts say the very wet summer and drier autumn that followed have resulted in some of the most spectacular leaf displays in recent times and Britain's Indian summer seems intent on holding on for one final weekend this year.

Visitors enjoying the clement air yesterday at the Westonbirt Arboretum near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, were treated to a feast of autumn colours splashed across the park's trees. Temperatures in the South reached a high of 18C (65F).

Current temperatures are seven degrees above the November average. But those hoping to enjoy the last of the unseasonable warmthhad better make their way to the great outdoors soon as weather forecasters yesterday said colder temperatures were on their way. A spokesperson for the Met Office predicted: "We'll see these temperatures dropping by four to five degrees at the beginning of next week."