DORSET basked in temperatures hotter than Greece and Turkey across the weekend.

While parts of the continent saw rain, thunder storms and more rain, the Jurassic Coast shone in a miniature spring heat wave.

After the deluge that plagued the Dorset coast across the winter, it appears that spring had truly sprung as the sun shone and people headed outside.

The buckets and spades were out as people headed to Weymouth beach to enjoy the warm weather.

This weekend saw sunshine and high temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius and readers reported daffodils sprouting in the garden and bees buzzing in the undergrowth.

Meanwhile in Athens, Greece, temperatures didn’t get above 10 degrees and the capital was lashed by rain.

Istanbul in Turkey fared little better with highs of 12 degrees and more heavy rain.

Even Portugal’s island paradise of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean could only manage 14 degrees with thunder storms and heavy rain.

The warm weather looks set to remain across Dorset this week and could go into next weekend as well. Today could see the barometers hitting 15 degrees with more sunshine.

Weymouth weatherman Bob Poots, pictured left, said the recent months had been unseasonably warm with temperatures a couple of degrees above where they would normally be.

He said: “March has started quite nicely with some sunshine and little rain.”

He added: “It’s been quite pleasant. I think we are in for a decent week this week”

Weymouth Esplanade and beach saw families out and enjoying the sunshine yesterday, building sandcastles and playing football.

Chairman of Hoteliers Association Dave Price said there had been quite a lot of people on the beach yesterday.

He said that hopefully the weather would remain good throughout the week and that could boost trade in the coming days.

He said: “Hopefully it will bring more people down next weekend.”