Britain is today revelling in its warmest Halloween on record.

The record of 20C (68F) set at Dartford in Kent in 1968 was beaten this morning when the mercury reached 20.5C (68.9F) in Filton, Bristol, the Met Office said.

It posted a tweet saying: "It's officially the warmest Halloween on record with Filton recording 20.5C."

And forecasters say that could rise even further in the south east this afternoon, with residents in the south east set to bask in unseasonably warm temperatures of 21C (70F) – some eight degrees higher than is normal for this time of year.

Weather is Andover is expected to reach highs of 19C by around 1.30pm.

So far, 2014 has been the warmest year on record following consistently mild temperatures which have continued into autumn, weather forecaster MeteoGroup said.

But October will not break any records, despite being both warmer and wetter than average.