Southern Railway Posters, circa 1930

In the 1920s and ’30s railway companies were hard at work tempting walkers into the countryside with drawings of alluring scenery – and the promise of good weather. Edmond Vaughan created a series of stylish designs celebrating sunshine in the south, although east would possibly be more accurate now. Sunshine hours from the Met Office for winter 2020 put England E & NE – a strip up the east coast from the south Lincs border to the Scottish one – at the top of the league with 218.2 hours. East Anglia took silver with 216.5, then England SE with 193.3. He was right about the far north though: just 89.1 hours total for December, January and February in Scotland N.