Organisers of weekend's event expect to be out of pocket

The festival was due to take place across the weekend, with live music and events planned all day Saturday and Sunday, as well as entertainment on Friday night.

But, when Dave King, who runs the festival with wife Sandi, stepped out of the door on Wednesday morning, he knew it was all over.

He said: “I am always on site from the Sunday before and I saw it getting worse and worse.

“I stepped out of the door on Wednesday and into a foot of water and thought we had no choice but to cancel.

“Of course it is disappointing but there was nothing we could do about it.

"We would rather cancel beforehand than have everyone here in a mud bath or have to cancel halfway through. It was not a decision we took lightly.”

The couple then had to spend the rest of the week calling all of the customers who had bought advance tickets to inform them of the bad news.

They also had to cancel bands, stallholders and display teams.

Customers were offered a refund or a free ticket for next year’s event.

Mr King said: “It was a lot of work but we managed to get it all sorted. I think we made 340 phone calls on Wednesday, trying to let everyone know.”

This is the third time Mr and Mrs King have cancelled the festival, which is now in its 23rd year.

It was abandoned in 2000 after the foot and mouth crisis and was cancelled five years ago due to rain.

Mr King said the couple would be absorbing the inevitable financial hit from this year’s last-minute cancellation.

He said: “Some of the bands who were booked have to be paid because the cancellation was last minute.

“And we have the phone bill form all the extra calls we have had to make.

“But we will have to take the hit personally for that.

“There won’t be any effect on the festival because it doesn’t have anything - all the profits go to charity.

“That is the risk you take with an event like this.

“But there is no need for people to worry, the festival will be back next year.”