2018 had a wet April, followed by a drier than normal May (May 2019 was even drier). I remember it being extremely dry in my location (Horsham), I only remember it raining once or twice in the whole month. That was that first of three consecutive months with high pressure anchored right over the UK.
1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1995, 2010, 2011, 2019
These years had negative rainfall anomalies in April and May relative to 1981-2010 climatology, HadUKP England+Wales dataset. It is not that common. It is also uncommon to get both April and May wet, which suggests that locked in weather patterns for weeks at a time are rare in Spring.