Articles | British Lapland's 'tacky' Christmas

British Lapland's 'tacky' Christmas

Published: Tuesday, 2 December 2008, 10:18AM

Hundreds of visitors have called Britain's Lapland 'a joke' after it apparently failed to live up to its advertisement.

The website for Lapland New Forest at Matchams Leisure Park near Ringwood on the Hampshire-Dorset border, showed pictures of snowy scenes and promised real log cabins, husky dogs and other animals, as well as a "bustling" Christmas market.

But some visitors claimed they experienced "disorganised chaos" and complained that once they paid £25 to get inside the park, it was "tacky" with "real log cabins" actually garden sheds and the nativity scene a billboard poster that could only been seen across an expanse of mud.

An ice rink was also closed for repairs while the "magical tunnel of light" turned out to be a few lights hung up on a line of trees.

Organiser Henry Mears said: "We don't believe we ripped anyone off."

He blamed "a few groups of professional troublemakers" for the allegations over the attraction which opened on Friday, adding: "Like all people they like to get into queues and just generate a bit of aggravation. What is not here that we haven't advertised?"

Dorset County Council's trading standards team said it planned to investigate after receiving more than 50 complaints.