Christmas fayre called off due to Storm Darragh

Storm warnings have forced a National Trust visitor attraction in Nottinghamshire to close and cancel a second Christmas fayre in as many weeks.

Clumber Park's festive fayre was set to take place over the weekend but has been called off ahead of Storm Darragh.

The event was also set to take place towards the end of November but did not go ahead because of Storm Bert.

A decision was also made to fully close the site to visitors on Saturday due to the wind.

The country park said a "meet Father Christmas" event has been cancelled on Saturday but could still take place on Sunday afternoon.

A bike sale has also been postponed until January with further details to be announced in the new year.

A spokesperson said: "Due to the adverse weather conditions forecast, it has been necessary to make changes to our planned events this weekend.

"Limiting access to Clumber is something that we want to avoid but the safety of our people and visitors must be our priority."

Nikki Rushin, 53, from Retford, who runs Forest Fables Decor making wreaths from foraged material, said she was set to lose at least £1,000.

"All week I've been looking at my phone, slowly seeing if the weather's going to change and and it just hasn't and it's just so disheartening," she said.

"When I get home in the evenings I've been making all my stock. I've got so much Christmas stuff and I'm not going to be able to sell it.

"It's not been the Christmas that I envisaged".

Michelle Elliott, 58, from Sheffield, runs ShellEll creations, selling luxury pet accessories.

She said: "I was really looking forward to both of these events and it's just absolutely devastating that the weather's forced them to be cancelled and I totally understand for the health and safety aspect.

"But it's just absolutely devastating."

Storm Darragh is set to bring winds to many parts of the UK with gusts set to reach in excess of 90mph (145km/h) in some areas of the country.

In Nottinghamshire, a yellow warning for wind has been issued with speeds forecast to hit 57mph (92km/h) on Saturday morning.

Clumber Park first announced the changes to its weekend of events on Thursday in order to "give stallholders as much notice as possible".

By Anna Church, BBC Weather

Storm Darragh is our fourth named storm of the season and it's expected to impact our weather here in the East Midlands from Friday night and across the weekend.

It's going to be bringing some heavy rainfall but it's the strong gusty winds that we're concerned about because they could be widespread of 50 to 60mph and locally in excess of 60mph.

I am expecting them to peak from Saturday lunchtime onwards and they'll slowly begin to ease off from Saturday night until Sunday.

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