THE start of the school summer holidays are set to be a washout with forecasters warning of miserable weather this Saturday.

The Met Office says a large area of the country, including Herefordshire, could be hit with "torrential downpours", flash flooding, hail and strong winds.

There is still some uncertainty, however, where specifically the deluge will hit.

"Areas of heavy, thundery showers may develop over England and Wales from early on Saturday before moving northwards during the day," said the Met Office in a statement this morning.

"The development of these is uncertain but where they do form, some torrential downpours are possible with frequent lightning, hail and locally strong gusts.

"Significant flooding is possible where these do occur from surface water as well as small, fast responding watercourses."