VISITORS hoping to take a spontaneous trip to Lydiard Park and enjoy an impromptu cream tea will be disappointed to learn that they can’t – that is, unless they order the summer delicacy two days in advance.

This culinary anomaly was revealed by Councillor Keith Williams, the cabinet member responsible for Lydiard, at a recent scrutiny meeting.

He was speaking to fellow members about the attractions the park has to offer when he poured cold water on the cream tea fantasies of scone-loving Swindonians.

He said: “To make Lydiard Park a great destination, we want to give people a range of offers: burgers and hot dogs at the Forest Café, or cream teas at the stable block.”

But currently, he said, “because of our catering facilities on site, you have to order a cream tea 48 hours in advance. So if you want to turn up on the spur of the moment and want a cream tea – sorry, you didn’t order it two days ago”.

Coun Williams put the comic oddity down to insufficient catering provision at the park and said that, due to limited facilities, staff needed plenty of preparation time.

“It’s not ideal,” he admitted, also pointing out that the “extensive kitchen facilities” in the conference centre are currently being refurbished.

But Coun Williams is hoping the situation will soon be rectified, thus enabling visitors to enjoy impromptu cream teas.

“I would envisage bringing something in well in time for summer,” he added.