Lord Bath celebrated 40 years of Longleat Safari Park on Tuesday by presenting a birthday cake to his giraffes.

But the cake, which was made from animal friendly fruit and vegetables, was eventually eaten by the camels as the giraffes became a bit camera shy.

The park, which opened in 1966, was the first drive through safari park outside Africa and is now most famous for its pride of lions.

Lord Bath cut a ribbon to officially open the park with original visitors from 40 years ago, and vintage cars from the 1960s then led the way into the grounds.

The safari park was originally opened by Lord Bath's father. Lord Bath said: "I was nervous when the park first opened because if it did not work then we could have gone bankrupt."

At first the public were allowed to get very close to the animals and could even hold a baby lion cub on their laps for just 50p. Lord Bath added: "In those days I could hear the lions roaring from my bedroom balcony, but now my hearing is too bad."

A picture from that time showed the previous Lord Bath at home sharing a sofa with a lion. When asked if he might pose for a similar photo, Lord Bath said: "I might if you can find me a lion that is as old and as tame as that one was."

Graham Eggleton, 56, parks and events officer, from Horningsham, said: "My family have been working at Longleat for 83 years.

"When I started here it was hectic there were queues of cars waiting to get into the park until 4pm even though we closed at 6pm."

John Pomeroy, a semi-retired motor engineer, of Henfords Marsh, led the convoy of vintage cars in his 1953 Morris series Z van.

In the last few years Longleat has increased in popularity due to the BBC programme Animal Park.