Holiday washout fears as heavy rain will return

Rain will return to the region this weekend, forecasters warned today, amid fears that the dark and dreary weather will hit bank holiday events.

The mercury is also set to plunge to night-time lows of zero, which will result in a frost on the ground, while gusts of wind up to 25mph will also hit the region.

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Owner of Essington Fruit Farm, Richard Simkin, is preparing for the venue's annual bluebell walks, which usually attract crowds of people raising money for the Leukaemia Research Fund.

But he said he was not expecting the best turnout and that the recent bad weather had played havoc with the flowers, some of which are blooming two to three weeks later than last year, when the UK basked in glorious sunshine.

"I was hoping the weather would dry up and be a bit nicer so we would get more people coming along," Mr Simkin said.

"The flowers are not much more advanced than they were last week.

"But if it stays dry and not too cold, then we are expecting them to reach their peak this weekend."

Visitors can stroll through the woodland between 10am and 4pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There is a suggested donation of £2.50.

Today was expected to be the warmest day of the week, with highs of 13C (55.4F). The heavy downpours were set to hold off for the next few days, until the weekend.

It comes after weeks of almost incessant rain, with experts announcing yesterday that April was the wettest since records began more than 100 years ago.

Seven urgent warnings were today still in place plus a further 28 flood alerts in the Midlands after being issued by the Environment Agency, affecting rivers including the Severn, Avon and Wreake. The River Penk has burst its banks in Stafford, leaving fields at Radford Bank under water.

On Monday, the agency issued a flood alert for the Lower Tame near Lichfield.

Flooding is possible for low-lying land and roads between Hopwas and the National Arborteum near Alrewas.