I can't recall such a warm winter for many years. With the daffodils and snowdrops long since appearing, we seem to have almost completely missed the winter morning ritual of scraping ice off the car windscreen, certainly in the south of England. We've had our fair share of rain, but otherwise it has been very mild. This creates both challenges and opportunities in terms of selecting and selling the right mix of product for garden centres in the first couple of months of the year, before spring kicks in with avengeance.
It seems that over the last few years there is less and less delineation between the seasons during the year, which in many ways is a shame. Of course there are many differences across various parts of the U.K., including more frequent flooding in certain areas, and still a fair share of snow and cold spells in northern England and Scotland. However personally I miss not having the variety of the different seasons, with cold Winters to wrap up warm for, the excitement of the first glimmers of Spring, hot balmy Summer days and perhaps my favourite of all, crisp Autumn days as the nights start closing in - I think it's part of the appeal of living in the UK, or used to be.
Still, with the clocks about to change, hopefully the mild winter will pave the way for a sustained dry and warm summer – good for both the soul and business.