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Britain may have been basking in glorious sunshine and balmy temperatures, but of course, as soon as Glastonbury Festival arrives, the weather is set to turn.

And it seems festivalgoers aren't quite as die-hard as first thought, with hotel searches booming since forecaster warned of thundery showers and heavy downpours.

As thousands descend upon Worthy Farm in Pilton for this weekend's festivities, one hotel website is reporting a huge surge in bookings for the Glastonbury area, following the grim weather forecast.

Lapping up the sun, but could things be about to get a whole lot muddier?

Get ready for the rain! The sunshine today is expected to give way to heavy showers

Searches for hotels in the Glastonbury area are up by 92 per cent, according to research from Hotels.com, which also revealed that over a quarter of us (27 per cent) would prefer to stay in a hotel than go through the traditional camping experience.

Interestingly, the research also reveals that a cheeky two per cent of festival goers even admit to lying to their friends and family about staying in a hotel when they said they were camping.

Thousands of festival-goers arrived at the Somerset site yesterday, with even more expected today.

But late arrivals were advised to get their tents up as quickly as possible before heavy rain dampens proceedings by the afternoon.

Idyllic: A balmy summer's evening in the Stone Circle are of Worthy Farm, but conditions could change later today

In rainier times: Glastonbury 2011 had more than its share of downpours

Forecasters predict rain will last throughout the weekend and the Met Office put out a yellow weather warning, warning that 'severe' storms could disrupt transport and events.

'This is not just a bit of rain,' Nicky Maxey of the Met Office told Mail Online. 'The weather has been very dry in the Somerset area which is likely to exacerbate the problems.

'It is ok today but from 4am on Friday until at least 9pm on Saturday, there will be a band of rain across the Glastonbury area.

'Sunday will be clearer, with some sunny spells, but there is still potential for showers.

'Glastonbury have put a lot into dealing with floods so they may be prepared but we are looking at short, very sharp showers that will come too fast for normal drains to handle, causing localised flooding,' a Met spokesman said.

'There hasn't been a drop of rain in Somerset for the past four weeks so it's not going to get really muddy,' said long time festival veteran Paul Ward.

But it's not a view shared by the Met Office, which said that the lack of rain in recent weeks 'is likely to exacerbate the problems.'

Glastonbury has long been recognised as the festival which attracts the worst weather, but despite the mud it continues to attract more festival goers every year.

'It's great to see that rain or shine we will enjoy Glastonbury... even if there is a cunning minority who lie about where they stay just to keep up appearances,' said Alison Couper of Hotels.com.

As Dolly Parton, Metallica and Blondie strut their stuff it seems the trend in 'glamping' isn't going away any time soon.