However you like to eat your strawberries - with cream, sugar, or as Sir Andy Murray once quipped "with my fingers" - this season is set to be one of the sweetest and most shapely on record.

The bumper harvest of strawberries is down to an unusually sunny spring, with the highest levels recorded by the Met Office in more than 100 years, paired with some cooler weather, which has allowed the crop to develop slowly with sweeter results.

Heightened bee activity during March and April has also resulted in excellent pollination - an essential factor in producing the classic strawberry shape.

Marion Regan from the Kent-based Hugh Lowe Farms praised the "glorious spring this year which has contributed to a really good crop of the fruit."

"We have been noticing that this year's berries were a good size so far but that the most marked thing was their sweetness and full flavour," she said.

Peter Judge from British Berry Growers added this year's weather conditions have allowed the crops to deveop slowly.

"This has supported the creation of strong root systems, which create a really strong engine for the plants to grow fantastic fruit with excellent levels of natural sugars," he added.

Hugh Lowe Farms count Wimbledon tennis among one of their clients, with those attending likely to be the benefactors of this year's crop - with the iconic of pairing of cream.

British Berry Growers also stress this year's harvest is producing a wide variety of strawberries with differing flavour profiles.

"I’d encourage consumers to look out for the varieties on packs and try something new this year. There’s so much choice now that there really is a strawberry for every palate," said Judge.

The high light levels and mild weather in the early stages of spring also brought the crop forward by around seven days compared to other years, according to growers.

But they also say they expect to see this continue throughout the season.

Marion Regan added: "Given that we are at the front end of the season we’re excited to see this trend continue to deliver fantastic berries to supermarket shelves from now until November.”

It's certainly been an outstanding spring so far with 546 hours of sunshine recorded across the UK so far (with nearly two weeks still to go) which edges us towards the second sunniest spring on record.

And what better way to celebrate those sunny stats than with a bumper crop of extra sweet strawberries!

The warm days and cool nights have been welcomed by strawberry farmers who have also been largely protected from an extended dry spell by their irrigation systems.

Not so lucky are the vast majority of arable farmers for whom the lack of rain is now a serious concern. It was the driest April on record - and as we've moved into May, large areas of the UK have seen no measurable rain at all.

It's welcome news, therefore, that the high pressure that has brought us this extended dry period is starting to break down this week.

Showers are likely across the UK over the next few days with temperatures still just about holding up above average by day (high teens/low twenties) - ensuring that everyone's favourite fruit will be Wimbledon-ready ahead of schedule this year!