Although I believe we have a very good reputation with our loyal visitors who regularly attend our public special events, may I take this opportunity to apologise to all those who attended our new Christmas at Eastnor event on December 4.

Clearly we were not prepared for such a huge response; some of the feedback has been positive, but many visitors left feeling disappointed. I am very sorry 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.

This was the first time Christmas at Eastnor has been held at the castle, and some difficult, but important lessons have been learnt. A huge amount of work was carried out to prepare for this new event, but we underestimated the likely number of visitors and the necessary infrastructure and entertainment to accommodate them.

Next year, the event will be held over two days instead of one and we will enhance the facilities we provide. In response to visitor feedback, we will also provide more entertainment for children.

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

Simon Foster, Castle Manager.