HUNDREDS piled into the Chiseldon House Hotel yesterday for a special open day after an extensive refurbishment.

From 10am to 3pm, guests could enjoy free tea and coffee with either a bacon roll in the morning, and cut sandwiches with scones and clotted cream in the afternoon.

General manager Sue Higgs said: “We had a really, really good turnout, it was beyond our expectations.

“Since October we’ve been refurbishing the hotel, levelling out the floor so it’s more accessible for people.

“Then we moved into some of the other rooms and recarpeted and repainted and refurbished, everything really, including the radiators.

“We held an open house for everybody and anybody to come and have a look and see what we have on offer here.”

Among the visitors was the Mayor of Swindon, Teresa Page, who dropped in to see what was on offer.

Sue said: “She was very lovely and chatty and said she had never been here before, but she seemed very interested and had a good look around.

“We also had a group of ladies who were already booked in but who came in and had a look and were very complimentary.”