IT WAS only supposed to last a couple of days - but the freezing conditions have carried on for more than a week.

By mid-week Topcliffe in North Yorkshire got down to minus 7.4C, making it the coldest in England according to figures provided by the Press Association (PA).

Weather forecasters have been caught on the hop by the freezing blast, but it looks as if the temperatures are finally set to rise.

According to the Met Office, tomorrow will the last day when the mercury struggles to get above freezing at night time.

Heavier cloud cover means temperatures during the day will be close to the seasonal norm and won't drop below 4 degrees on a night.

A spokesman said: "Overnight freezing fog patches will clear slowly, again perhaps lingering in prone spots. Otherwise, Monday will be cold and dry with some sunny spells through the day.

"Tuesday will be cloudy and becoming milder."

Sadly, that means a return to rain with the possibility of showers on Wednesday and Thursday.

Into next week the spokesman said: "The start of the period is likely to see a northwest-southeast split developing, bringing the driest and most settled conditions to the southeast while the north remains more unsettled with wet and windy weather."

Well you can't have everything - right?