This new warm weather that we’re all hearing about is bearing fruit - literally.

I saw on television some time back that the quality of English wine, produced in the south (Kent, mainly) is improving as the weather warms and, it is suggested, will be on a par with some of the more popular French and New World brands in a few years.

Well now you can buy the first ever harvest of commerically grown British apricots.

Sainsbury’s was surprised by the quality. “They were much bigger than I would have expected,” says the company’s product technologist, Theresa Huxley. “The colour was superb, a beautiful dark orange with a beautiful sheen; I thought they’d be quite pale. They had a very rich, perfumed, aromatic apricot taste, quite stunning. I think they should be one of our premium brands.”

Sounds delicious. And it won’t stop at apricots. It seems Kiwi fruits are next in line as a project currently under way is attempting to produce them - also in Kent. Add to that an attempt to grow almonds in Devon and things are taking a turn for the exotic in merrie England.

Phil Hudson, chief horticultural adviser of the National Farmers’ Union. “We should remember that what is predicted is not only warmer weather, but also more variable and extreme weather,” he says. “And there is the potential not only for new and exotic fruits and plants, but for new and exotic fruit and plant diseases.”

Hmm. And new and exotic insects perhaps?