Disgruntled mutterings about the wet and overcast weather have been heard up and down the country this year as summer has, once again, seemingly deserted Britain. Everywhere, that is, except in the Shetland Islands.

Way up in the north the weather has been as summery as anyone could hope for. Unlikely though it may sound, the Shetland Islands have, with only a day of the month left, had the most exceptional August of anywhere in Britain.

“This has been the best and it's been embraced,” said Ella Gordon in Lerwick. “We've just been having so many good days. It's been so good that there was a day last week that was terrible — none of us knew how to handle it. May was really good. June wasn't and we thought summer had been and gone, but it's been glorious this month.”

The sandy shores that line much of the 900 miles of coastline in the Shetlands have been visited by bathers much more often than usual, and Ms Gordon was among those to take advantage of the conditions, though she added: “The water was still freezing.”

By Thursday the islands had recorded 169.7 hours of sunshine, almost 30 per cent more than their average for the month from 1970-2000, and more is forecast for this weekend. “It's talked about very much,” said Jim Henry, a barman at the Da Noost pub in Lerwick, the main town. “It's caused a lot of comment. We can't recall it being like this before.”

Sarah Holland, from the Met Office, said: “They've had 129 per cent of their average. The rest of the UK's sunshine is well below what's expected.”

Shetland could yet record the sunniest August this year in Britain, but the forecast is against it. Some sun can be expected over the weekend, but so can rain, which means that the islands could be overtaken by Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight, which had recorded 165.7 hours by Wednesday.