Today was the hottest day of the year so far in Suffolk as temperatures hit a high of 30.1C - and the hot spell is set to continue, according to forecasters.

People flocked to the county's beautiful coastline to enjoy the sea and sunshine, and with the warm weather expected to continue, Suffolk's beaches could remain busy all week.

Cavendish, near Sudbury, and Santon Downham, on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, both reached the county's warmest temperature of 30.1C (86F) on Sunday - beating the year high of 28.7C (83F) recorded in Santon Downham on June 16.

Charsfield, near Wickham Market, hit 29.6C (85F).

Saturday also saw some warm temperatures across the county as Santon Downham reached 28.0C (82F) while Cavendish hit 27.9C (82F).

East Anglian Daily Times: Suffolk recorded its hottest day of the year so far on SundaySuffolk recorded its hottest day of the year so far on Sunday (Image: Archant 2021)

Zoe Johnson, meteorologist with Weatherquest, said the warm weather is set to continue.

"It's still staying warm, maybe not quite as warm on Monday, we've got a bit more of an easterly breeze so it might feel slightly cooler.

"But it's still looking like a warm today on Monday with maximum temperatures of 28C (82F) in the west of the region.

"Elsewhere it will be a little lower than that. It could be a little chillier on the coast, closer to the low 20s, but still fairly warm.

"Tuesday is a similar story, we're looking up to 27C (80F), and similar again on Wednesday.

"Maybe we'll not see as much wall-to-wall sunshine that we've had over the weekend, with a bit more patchy cloud around, but it will still be warm."

East Anglian Daily Times: People flocked to the county's beaches over the weekend, including FelixstowePeople flocked to the county's beaches over the weekend, including Felixstowe (Image: Archant 2021)

People across the UK also enjoyed a glorious weekend, with year high temperatures across the four UK nations.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far in both England and Wales, with both countries recording temperatures higher than 30C.

The temperature reached 31.6C (88.9F) at Heathrow and 30.2C (86.4F) in Cardiff.

While Saturday saw the warmest days of the year in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

East Anglian Daily Times: People enjoy the glorious weekend sunshine in Christchurch Park in Ipswich.People enjoy the glorious weekend sunshine in Christchurch Park in Ipswich. (Image: Archant 2021)

Northern Ireland also set a new record high temperature on Saturday as the mercury hit 31.2C in Ballywatticock close to Newtownards in County Down.

Previously, the highest temperature of 30.8C was recorded on July 12 1983 and June 30 1976.

Ballywatticock's new claim to fame was marked with the changing of a speed limit sign to reference the 31.2C temperature recorded in the tiny area on Saturday.