Easter fun at Lydiard Park

The Great Lydiard Park Easter Egg trail will see those taking part search for eggs hidden around the lake of the Swindon Borough Council-owned park, which will spell out a word to gain a prize.

The trail will take place between 11am and 3pm, with trail sheets available from the Coach House Tea Rooms until 2.15pm.

The cost of the trail is £5 per child and no booking is required, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Parking charges apply.

Visitors to the park can also learn more about the history of the grounds and the stately home at Lydiard House Museum, which reopened on Saturday (1 April) with a new exhibition.

In the 19th Century, the Viscounts Bolingbroke owned more than 15 farms in Lydiard Millicent and Lydiard Tregoze. Entitled: Making Hay: Rural Life on the Lydiard Estate, the exhibition explores the experiences of several generations of families that worked the land.

The display features a range of previously unseen objects, as well as stunning photographs showing agricultural labourers working the land on the Main Lawn of Lydiard Park, Upper Shaw Farm, Creeches Farm, Windmill Leaze Farm and other locations on the Lydiard estate.

Next Thursday (13 April) families are invited to step back in time to discover what life might have been like for a child living at Lydiard House in the Victorian period.

Visitors will have the opportunity to handle types of domestic items used in the day-to-day running of the house and play with toys, as young Vernon (later 6th Viscount Bolingbroke) may have done at Lydiard Park in the 1890s.

The interactive sessions are included with museum admission. To reserve your place, email: LydiardLearning@swindon.gov.uk Lydiard House Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm (last admission 3:30pm). Admission charges apply.

The Forest Café and Coach House Tea Rooms will also be open through the busy Easter holiday period. For more information visit the website at: www.lydiardpark.org.uk