A NEW Christmas event at Eastnor Castle was the victim of its own success.

Castle manager Simon Foster has apologised to those who attended Christmas in Eastnor on Sunday, December 4.

The event was advertised as "a great family day out" featuring a range of stalls selling gifts, mince pies and mulled wine, hot chestnuts carol singers and horse and carriage rides. But it was so popular that some people had to queue up to 1 hours to see Father Christmas, and other attractions also has long lines.

"It's the first time we've had an event at this time of year," said Mr Foster. "We were expecting 1,000 to 1,700, but we got more like 2,500.

"Some of the feedback has been very positive, but many visitors left feeling disappointed.

"I'm very sorry that we failed to provide our usual high standard of service on this occasion and we will now work out how we can solve these problems in the future."

Mr Foster and his team have decided to repeat the event next year, over two days instead of one, and in response to comments from visitors, they will provide more children's entertainment.

"In the meantime, I would like to assure all our visitors that we're taking their comments very seriously and we'll ensure that these problems are solved as far as possible at next year's event," said Mr Foster.