A ‘Winter Wonderland’ has been branded a “shambles” by angry visitors who found themselves at a muddy showground field with no Santa.
Disappointed visitors to the Bakewell Winter Wonderland took to social media to brand it a “blunderland” after paying up to £7 each for tickets plus £5 for parking, only to find a muddy field with a few stalls and fairground rides and an incomplete Santa’s grotto when it opened on Friday.
And when he did arrive, they found themselves having to wait two hours to meet Father Christmas.
Jean Sanderson, from Chesterfield, who travelled to the attraction in Bakewell, Derbyshire, described it as “horrendous”.
She said: “I know the weather doesn’t help but the organisation was poor. There was no atmosphere at all. There was no Santa and they were building the grotto when we got there.”
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Miss Sanderson was later refunded by the organisers after she complained during her visit on Friday.
Hundreds of other visitors branded the festive attraction a “Winter Blunderland”.
Catt Haswell tweeted: “Bakewell ‘winter wonderland’ what a joke, no Santa, no Christmas cheer & had to pay £7 before we knew.”
Roger Martin added: “Good to see Bakewell Winter Wonderland is doing its bit to celebrate the anniversary of the Somme.”
Tracy Woodward, 44, travelled 17 miles from her home in Sheffield on Saturday with her husband Christopher and his uncle Barry and auntie Deborah.
The family even brought their caravan and planned to spend the weekend after seeing the event’s advertising of fireworks, reindeer and a grotto, but on Sunday Mrs Woodward said they had “seen what there was to see in 20 minutes”.
She added: “I’d describe as a muddy open field with a scattering of stalls. It didn’t have anything to do with Christmas. We were there about 20 minutes and left.”
On Friday, organisers apologised to visitors on their Facebook page, blaming the poor conditions on a “mini hurricane”.
A spokeswoman for Bakewell Showground, where the event was held, said they were not involved in the organisation of the event.
She said the event had some setbacks due to a bad storm in the early hours of Friday, which delayed the arrival of some traders and resulted in damage to the grotto.
The spokeswoman said visitors had been warned to bring suitable footwear and measures were in place to battle the mud.
“Organisers are sorry to hear that some people have not enjoyed the event but the majority of feedback has been positive,” she added.