SEVERAL weeks after opening its doors to the Bradford on Avon public, the new Poppies Tea Rooms is settling in nicely to its new surroundings.

The cafe, situated in the town's tourist information centre, serves hot and cold drinks, homemade cakes, cream teas, freshly made soups, salads, sandwiches, paninis and other light lunch items.

The new proprietor of Poppies, Janet Caffrey, of Corsham, has been in the food service business for more than 35 years and is relishing the job already.

"We are very excited to be joining the Bradford on Avon community. Whenever the sun is shining the place is packed. We have met some lovely people and we are very happy with our start so far," said the 58-year-old, who returned home from 13 years in Canada with husband Neil in 2015.

"We have always wanted to open a family food business and when we saw this opportunity to open a tea room in the beautiful Westbury Gardens we knew it was the place for us. This is good quality food in a really comfortable, welcoming environment in a fantastic location."

Alongside Mrs Caffrey, qualified chef and her niece, Cheryl Cox, and Diane Henley make up the staffing trio.

"It is quite a team we have and all of them are ready to welcome visitors, the community and the workforce of Bradford on Avon to Poppies," said Mrs Caffrey.

"We came up with the name as we wanted something linked to the area we are in and we thought what better way to acknowledge the war memorial, that is just outside our doors, by calling it Poppies."

The qualified chef is also pleased to support local artists by displaying their work on the tea room walls which will be updated every month and currently features the work of Mayor Alison Craddock.