My spirits always lift at this time of year when the sun comes out – but this spring I have an extra reason to enjoy the warmer weather.
Last year, my wife Helen and I finally installed solar panels on our home, which means that sunny days boost our bank balance as well as my mood.
But the bright spell comes after some pretty grey weather earlier in the year.
So, do the numbers for solar panel installation really add up in cloudy, rainy Britain?
We didn’t get solar panels sooner because, I must admit, I had simply assumed they would not be viable for our roof because of the direction it faces.
However, our energy company offered to do a free survey, and on a whim I accepted.
It turns out our roof is perfectly usable. Although a south-facing roof is the ideal, solar power can still be perfectly viable even if – like ours, which faces east – yours is not.
The surveyor sent us a proposed design layout (though initially for our neighbour’s roof by mistake), which involved six panels at the front and six at the back, and that looked fine to us.
Read more: This Is Money