Lapland project in meltdown

TROUBLED winter wonderland Lapland UK has gone into administration, the Courier can reveal.

Ticket sales for the Christmas extravaganza at Bewl Water, near Wadhurst, failed to meet expectations sending the company to the point of extinction this week.

The recession and poor weather are being blamed,with sales plummeting by 10,000 from 50,000 in 2008.

A large amount of the 40,000 tickets sold last year were at discounted prices as owners tried to cut losses.

Spokesman for Lapland UK Anita Hamilton defended prices which were set between £57.50 and £87.50.

She said: "What was good value one year was not so this year. The price is set because of the cost – it is not a cheap event to stage."

Owner Mike Battle remained hopeful of finding a buyer which could save the company as early as next month.

But he wouldn't say whether it would return to the Weald this year.

Mrs Hamilton said: "At the moment we don't know whether we will be returning to Bewl Water next year.

"We have a very good relationship with them and Simon Hume-Kendall but we can't say one way or the other."

She added: "It was an extremely difficult trading year. The effects of the recession led to a lot of pressure on ticket prices and sales.

"A major factor was the weather. That was a very bad position to be put in.

"We had to close for two days, on December 18 and 19, which were peak days for us and obviously a lot of people were unable to travel on other days in that period of bad weather."

Lapland UK denied rival festive attraction Santa's Magical Kingdom at the Hop Farm, in Paddock Wood, had impacted on sales.

Mrs Hamilton said: "I don't think that was a major factor – it is difficult to tell.

"We still sold 40,000 tickets, a lot of which were outside Kent. But we were badly affected by the weather."

The Hop Farm's spokesman Caroline Edmunds said people were put off Lapland UK by the price.

"It doesn't take an Einstein to work out that people don't want to spend that kind of money, unless the climate is such that it is OK to do that.

"It was very good, but it does come down to price in my view and obviously the Hop Farm was more affordable."

Lapland UK are at an advanced stage in talks with a "big events company" and an announcement could be made next month.

Mrs Hamilton added: "There were a lot of enquiries from American firms and stately homes across the country looking to replicate Lapland there and these are lines that are being explored."

Visitors shut out on December 18 and 19 have yet to be reimbursed but are assured of a refund.

Mrs Hamilton said: "We have an insurance policy in place which was ring-fenced. Because of the backlog in the number of claims it has taken a while – but they will all be paid and that is going through now."