Pockets of the UK saw their warmest March temperatures since records began, the Met Office has said.

A particularly balmy end to the month saw some places reach temperatures well above 20C, although forecasters have predicted a milder start to April in the days ahead.

Figures from the Met Office show the north Cornwall town of Bude recorded its highest temperature for a March day at 23.4C, up from the previous high of 21.2C in 1968.

West London’s Kew Gardens, the village of Lyneham in north Wiltshire, and Oxford to the east also broke long-standing March daily temperature records.

The average temperature across the UK last month was 0.9C higher than the March average, based on provisional data comparing highs from 1981 to 2010, the Met Office said.

Data suggested March was drier than average for southern, central and eastern areas, although north-west England saw more rain than usual due to persistent and heavy showers at various times.

The wettest day of the year so far was March 28 when 177.2mm was recorded at Seathwaite in Cumbria.

Mark McCarthy, from the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, said: “With the exception of some record-breaking highs at the end of the month, March didn’t deviate too much from what we’d expect to see for the time of year.

“The most notable factor was the high temperatures at the end of the month, with a number of stations recording their warmest March day since we’ve been recording the data.”