PARTS of Scotland basked in an Indian summer as September drew to a close, with the UK's highest temperature recorded in the north of Scotland.

The mercury reached a balmy 23.3°C in the Aberdeenshire village of Braemar on Wednesday, while the ski resort of Aviemore was more like the Mediterranean as residents and visitors enjoyed temperatures on a par with Nice and Rome but even warmer than Barcelona.

Bizarrely, the unseasonal heat came only hours after sub-zero temperatures overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday in Braemar, with the mercury dipping to -1.3°C.

Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness meanwhile basked in a high of 18°C, edged by Edinburgh which was Scotland's warmest city with a top temperature of 19°C.

The burst of warm weather has been driven by an area of high pressure over Britain, with the sunshine and warm temperatures forecast to continue until the weekend. Although temperatures are set to cool over the coming days, Scotland in particular is expected to enjoy the best of the sunshine on Saturday while the rest of Britain turns grey and overcast.

Colder Autumnal conditions will begin setting in from Sunday, however.

Christopher Blanchett, weather forecaster for BBC Scotland, said: "The settled spell lasts into the weekend, although with more cloud around, so temperatures will start to drop by a degree or so day by day."

It comes after a washout summer which saw Britain shudder through one of the coldest and wettest Julys on record, following by record-breaking rainfall in August.

in Scotland the east of the country fared worst with Perth and Dundee deluged by twice the average rainfall in July.