The Prince's Foundation team have been gettinginto the coronation spirit - by hosting a tea dance at Dumfries House to combat loneliness.

Festivities held by the charity started with a tea dance for 140 people at the charity’s headquarters of Dumfries House on Tuesday to celebrate the local community in East Ayrshire and help combat social isolation.

Guests were treated to coronation-themed dishes created by school pupils involved in the charity’s Food for the Future education programme.

And, in nearby New Cumnock, a celebratory swim took place at Scotland’s only freshwater, outdoor, heated public lido, which was refurbished by the foundation in 2017.

The King established the charity in 1986 to “champion a sustainable approach to how we live our lives and build our communities”.

Hundreds of locals attend tea dances at Dumfries House every year which are run as part of the charity’s ongoing health and wellbeing programme.

Gardeners at Dumfries House have also been busy planting a “CR” – Charles Rex – cypher centrepiece in the Queen Elizabeth walled garden at the property to mark the coronation.

Cumnock Chronicle: Head of gardens Melissa SimpsonHead of gardens Melissa Simpson (Image: Prince's Foundation)

Melissa Simpson, head of gardens at Dumfries House, and her team are hard at work to mark the King's coronation on Saturday.

The planted cypher will take pride of place alongside the existing emblem of The Prince’s Foundation, which sits on a raised embankment, visible across the garden, nextto The Belvedere.

More than 100 people will attend a second tea dance at Dumfries House on Sunday, and the grounds of another royal property in Scotland -  The Castle and Gardens of Mey, in Caithness - will be free to enter for the public on the day of the coronation.