PICTURES: Families flock to Swindon Easter events on scorching weekend

With this Easter officially one of the hottest on record, children and their parents made the most of the warm weather.

At Lydiard Park, staff were handing out more than one Easter trail sheet a minute in the first hour of opening their stables booth on Saturday morning.

On the children’s ward at Great Western Hospital, some of Swindon’s sickest youngsters got in on the action. Patients enjoyed an egg hunt around the ward, while ward staff dressed up in handmade bonnets and crafted Easter baskets for each of their young charges.

And in Cricklade, botany lovers made the most of the stunning sunny weather to gawp at the beautiful display of rare snake's head fritillaries on the famous North Meadow.

At Lydiard, children were asked to hunt for egg posters scattered around the historic parkland. Each of the eggs had pasted on it a picture of a butterfly found in the west Swindon country park.

Those who got around the trail were rewarded with an Easter egg with a difference. Rather than chocolate, the treats handed over by Lydiard staff were rather more prehistoric: a toy dinosaur that would burst out of its shell when its egg was placed in water.

Clearly enjoying handing over the Easter trail sheets, Lydiard Park’s Sharon Marsh beamed: “It’s lovely. The children come with their bunny ears and bonnets.”

Jesse McGowan, 29, from Old Town, was with four-year-old Isabella: “She’s really excited to go around the park and find some eggs.”

Marshalling her two children, Louise Curtis, 28, from Cirencester, said: “We are here to occupy these two. It’s nice sunny weather. It looks like it’s going to be a nice Easter trail.”

Asked what made the perfect trail, the mum added: “We’re looking for something to keep them occupied and happy – nothing too boring.”

A day earlier, delighted youngsters enjoyed going on an Easter egg hunt around the children’s ward at GWH. Staff dressed up in handmade bonnets and crafted baskets for each little patient before hiding chocolate treats around the outdoor play area, corridor and beds.

Fitness First in Marlborough popped in with a box full of extra eggs just before the hunt began.

Bella Sanders from Shrivenham decorated her basket and filled it to the brim after a successful search. She said: “One of my favourite things is painting, I also made paintings of a bunny, a chick and an Easter egg. I’ll share the chocolate I found with everyone, there’s no way I could eat it all myself!”

Her mum, Nicola Law, said: “We’ve been in hospital for most of the Easter break because Bella had a pain in her side and had to have her appendix taken out.

“She’s been very brave and she loves arts and crafts so this really cheered her up.”

Senior health play specialist Claire Parks said: “The children have really looked forward to the Easter egg hunt and it was nice for them to have something exciting to do while they’re here recovering.

“The staff really enjoyed joining in and being out in the sunshine watching the kids’ faces light up with smiles, it made everyone happy.”

10 miles down the A419, volunteers welcomed scores of visitors to Cricklade’s North Meadow.

The nature reserve is home to an estimated half-a-million rare snake's head fritillaries, with the flowers’ drooping heads creating a “purple haze” effect. Cricklade has around 80 per cent of the country’s entire population of the rare flowers, which are protected by law.

Chris Atkins, deputy town crier, said: “There’s nothing quite like it on this magnitude anywhere else in the country.”

“There are 250 different plants and flowers here - against a modern meadow, which will probably have seven.”

Tina Jones, 41, had cycled up from South Cerney with her family, said: “I’ve been wanting to come for about three years and it definitely surpasses my expectations. It’s amazing. Just the quantity of flowers, it’s incredible.”

At the Cricklade in Bloom-run Fritillary Cafe, volunteers were doing a roaring trade in homemade bread and butter pudding. Visitors could also buy – legally – fritillaries grown by Cricklade in Bloom gardeners, with all proceeds going to the local horticultural group.

Bob Jones, vice chairman of Cricklade in Bloom, said: “People come from all over. One year, we had people come from Dublin for the day. They brought their overnight bag.”

He admitted he hadn’t always known about the town’s famous flowers: “I’ve lived in Cricklade for 40 years. For the first 20 I just lived here. People were always on about the snake’s head fritillaries.” He eventually visited the sprawling meadows: “I just saw this mass of purple.”