The Netherlands has not had such a mild winter since records began at the Bilt weather station in 1901, weather bureau Weerplaza.nl said on Thursday.

Over the past three weeks, the average temperature has been 8 Celsius, beating the previous record of 7.7 Celsius. It was also the cloudiest winter period since 1951.
However, that is set to change. The wind has now moved to the northeast, bringing in cold air and frost.
Weather forecasters say the freezing period due to start on Friday could last up to the end of the month but will be with us until at least January 24.
The temperature is set to plunge to up to -5 Celsius at the weekend and will remain around zero during the day.