Farm park refused ‘Lapland’ reindeer request (From Daily Echo)

Farm park refused ‘Lapland’ reindeer request

4:36pm Friday 18th February 2011 in New Forest Lapland

A NORTH Hampshire children’s activity farm refused to loan its reindeer to the infamous Lapland attraction in the New Forest.

The Family Adventure Farm, on the A339 in Headley, owns a herd of reindeer as a visitor attraction, which it also loans out.

But when organisers from Lapland New Forest, at Matchams Leisure Park, near Ringwood, contacted the north Hampshire park earlier this year, manager Oscar Darlington turned them down.

The New Forest attraction – on the Hampshire-Dorset border – opened on November 28 and closed a week later, on December 4, after Dorset trading standards officials received more than 2,000 complaints and claims that the site was a rip-off.

Mr Darlington said: “They contacted us quite late to loan several reindeer. If you are doing something like that, and need to book reindeer, you do it a year in advance, particularly if it’s a major event.”

He added: “It didn’t seem right so we didn’t loan them any reindeer.”

The farm’s own seasonal activities begin on Sunday. For more details, see www.familyadventurefarm.co.uk