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It’s so darned hot that a fruit from China, Japan and Brazil has started to grow in Britain.

Abbotsbury Sub-Tropical Gardens near Weymouth in Dorset are showing off their first-ever handfuls of loquats, which have been fooled into thinking they’re near the equator thanks for the mild winter , warm spring and hot summer.

Loquats - not related to kumquats - first came from ancient south-east China and nowadays they are mostly grown in Japan, the Mediterranean countries, southern USA and Brazil for their delicious peachy apricot-coloured fruit.

Steve Griffith, curator at the gardens, said “Loquat trees are mostly grown in this country just for their foliage.

“They’re big-leaved and they suggest the tropics.

“In this country it’s very, very shy to flower and fruit because we don’t really have long, hot summers - but this year it’s produced some fruits for the first time.

“Many of our plants are doing spectacularly well this year, but it was still a real surprise to walk past and see these big orange fruits.

“That’s one of the great things about a garden like this.

“Very often we’ll put a rarity in some odd corner, and nothing interesting will happen for years, but then suddenly you’ll see something amazing, and it’s the first time it’s done it.

“I only wish there were more loquats and we could harvest enough for a picnic!”

After a hot and humid July, August could see lower temperatures as a "frontal feature" pushes in from the south east.

Billy Payne, a forecaster with Meteogroup, said August "should get off to a fairly dry and settled start" with a build-up of high pressure.

He said next week will bring a slight drop in temperatures but still possible highs of 23C (73F) in the south of England on Monday.