Only a mile or so from the PBO office in Poole, the cold snap has frozen a half-mile stretch of sea.

Around the Sandbanks peninsula, a stretch, reaching around 20 yards out to sea, froze in some of the coldest weather for almost a decade. (See pictures here)

The frozen water is said to be due to a combination of its low salt content, the shallow depth, and a sustained period of sub-zero temperatures.

Charles Chapman, marina manager of Parkstone Yacht Club, told the Daily Telegraph: “I have been here for more than 20 years and I cannot remember this ever happening before. The edge of the sea is frozen along the surf line.”

In Southern England, normally immune to the worst of the cold weather in winter, temperatures fell to nearly -12C, the lowest in England for six years.

Cold temperatures at the weekend meant that along rivers and estuaries throughout the South, water froze along the high water mark. Island Harbour marina on the Isle of Wight (pictured on Sunday) was completely covered by a thin layer of ice – broken only by the wake of one boat!

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Photo: Ben Meakins