VISITORS to a historic park will find a brand new attraction.

The Riverside Rotunda kiosk, which has been specially designed by architects from Burnley Council, will provide refreshments and toilet facilities for Towneley Park visitors and users of the nearby play area.

To celebrate the launch of the new facility, the council's executive member for leisure Roger Frost officially opened the Rotunda this week.

The kiosk, on the long-stay car park, has been designed to be in character with the architecture of the park's Grade II listed landscape and Towneley Hall itself.

The name Rotunda was chosen from a competition run on the Towneley website, when the public was asked to choose their favourite name from a shortlist of seven.

The name was originally suggested by Sarah Brown, a member of staff at the Towneley Hall gift shop.

Coun Frost said: "The Riverside Rotunda will be an excellent addition to the facilities at Towneley and particularly for those who want to use the new Riverside play area.

"With the summer season just starting it will also prove very popular with the many thousands of visitors who are expected to visit the area during the next few months."

Annette Birch, Towneley project manager, said: "A rotunda is traditionally a circular building commonly found in the estates of stately homes so it will certainly be well named for Towneley.

"It really is an eye-catching building which I'm sure will prove a big hit with users of the riverside area during the summer."

The Heritage Lottery Fund-backed £3.2million restor-ation programme for the park includes refurbishing the Old Stables Café and improvements to the hall car park as well as re-planting trees on the avenue.