MORE THAN 1,000 people expecting a thrilling and frightening evening for Halloween at Castle Howard were left horrified, but not by the scary sights they were expecting to see.

Visitors to the venue’s first Chills and Thrills Halloween Spectacular said they were left disappointed after lengthy queues caused them to miss out on events and eventually give up and go home.

Paul Evans, of Pickering, who was at the event with his wife, Claudine and two daughters, Georgia, eight, and Harriet, 11, said: “The whole thing was just doomed for failure. I think they oversubscribed with the numbers and we ended up walking out.

“They had one burger van and one international café, both of which had queues of about 70 to 80 deep. It was really disappointing.”

After watching the stunt-riding finale by Atkinson Action Horses for a couple of minutes the family left.

Home to one of North Yorkshire’s most iconic houses, the venue is experienced at managing large events, but the Halloween evening, which promised a headless horseman, flame-bearing guards and magic mirrors, failed to impress the estimated 1,500 guests last Wednesday.

Georgia Miller, who was visiting from Australia, had hoped the event would one of the best parts of her trip.

On the Castle Howard Facebook page she was among many who took to the website to vent their frustration.

She said: “I thought this event would have been the highlight of my trip, it was far from it.

“Being from Australia I would have loved to see the birds of prey although it was so dark the ones on either side of the tent were in pitch black.”

The event, which was a sell-out, was also criticised for the long queues people faced when trying to access various spooky-themed tents.

Louise Freeman said: “We got there at 4.30pm and managed to see some mirrors in one of the tiny tent displays. We waited for an hour near the storytelling tent to be told by those coming out that it was not worth the wait.”

Head of marketing at Castle Howard Rachel Underwood said that organisers were let down by a catering company at short notice, but were taking all comments onboard.

She said: “We had a staff briefing and we recognise there are some areas we could have done better in.

“It is so important to us that we provide a good service to visitors, staff and the family, so we are working through each concern on an individual basis to achieve a happy outcome for everybody.”