THE 2008 Blissfields Festival has been cancelled.

The festival, which was due to take place from July 4 to 6 at the Matterley Bowl near Winchester, has been called off after poor ticket sales.

The organisers have assured everyone who has purchased tickets that they will receive a full refund including their booking fee.

They said: "We are devastated to be in this position and could not have foreseen it, as we had planned an amazing weekend, and have had a very positive response from everyone we have talked to including the press, who have seen the quality we were offering this year.

"With such low sales, not only are the financial burdens for ourselves incredibly high but we would also not have been able to put on an event with the atmosphere and passion that we wanted our festival goers to have.

"After all the planning, such a drop in quality was not an option and the only decision open to us after seeking much advice was to can it off and minimise the pain to everyone involved. This was not a decision taken lightly and has involved much heartache and tears from us and the volunteers who put this event together."

The line-up at the festival, which was billed as being family-friendly, included The Wonderstuff, The Whip, Roni Size Reprazent, Delays, Robots in Disguise and Subsource.

The first Blissfields Festival was held in 2001 at Bradley Farm and started out as a large party.

This would have been the first year it was held at an outside venue, catering for 5,000 people.