It isn't always cloudy, though if you are on holiday here at the moment you could easily think that it's always like this! In fact, just a week ago it was blazing sunshine all over the country, and very hot for May.

In fact the UK has a relatively mild climate; the reason we have a sense that it's always raining or always cloudy is that the weather is so unpredictable. There are many European areas with similar overall temperatures and rainfall (The Netherlands and Nothern Germany, for example) but in these areas the weather tends to be steadier; so if starts raining in the morning it will probably stay that way for some hours, and if it starts sunny you can expect a sunny day.

But in the UK, it can start off in bright sunshine and then within minutes the sky is covered with black clouds. The reason for this is Britain's geography: we get both polar air and warm tropical air, among other odd features. You can learn more about the reasons for this here.