POPULAR summer evening concerts have ended after a decision by the National Trust.
The trust, which owns Fountains Abbey, its grounds and Studley Royal estate, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, has pulled the plug on its Music by Moonlight concerts.
They have been running for almost 20 years and were launched the raise funds for the trust after it bought the estate from North Yorkshire County Council in 1983.
The events regularly attracted full houses of 3,500 people, who would sit on the lawns by the floodlit abbey in the grounds of the World Heritage Site.
Their demise was blamed by the National Trust on competition from larger venues, such as Harewood House, near Leeds, Castle Howard, near York, and Ripley Castle, north of Harrogate.
Similar events are also being staged at Swinton Park Hotel, near Masham.
Trust spokeswoman Sasha Jackson said the events had been popular, but were gradually overtaken by bigger venues that did not pose the financial risk of smaller audiences at Fountains.
Published: 17/05/2004
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