Lingwood 37.7°C

Last Friday set a new national record for June daily maximum temperature, according to the Met Office. "A provisional high of 37.7°C was recorded at Lingwood, Strumpshaw Hill on 26 June, surpassing the previous record of 35.6°C set at Southampton in June 1976." But where is Lingwood, how high is Strumpshaw Hill and where precisely is the record-breaking weather station? I was in the area yesterday so went to have a look. Lingwood is a small Norfolk village about halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It's has an old nucleus, a quarter mile square of suburban roads and a lot of surrounding fields. My brother drove me down and we had to wait at the level crossing while a Greater Anglia train approached the station. The village green is north of the railway, the village hall is south and the Post Office used to be north but shifted south to the Spar supermarket in 2018. This would have been a great place to hide from the heat last Friday because they have a Wall's ice cream chiller…