AFTER five years in business and more than 120,000 visitors Woodhouse Farm Park has closed its doors to the public.

The Friday Bridge tourist attraction’s owner Sam Flint blamed the “economic climate” and “astronomical costs” for the decision. Fifteen members of staff have been made redundant.

He said that despite a “reasonable summer” the park would refuse to pass on its extra costs to customers who had flocked to the Flints’ family home in Jew House Drove.

Mr Flint, a member of Wisbech Tourism Group, said: “We’ve shut up shop and although it was a sad decision to make, the astronomical costs and economic climate gave us no choice.

“We just can’t pass our extra costs onto our customers as it quickly becomes a vicious circle. We made the decision with a heavy heart because the worst thing was having to make our friends redundant.

“The area needs attractions like this but although we had a reasonable summer no extra money was being spent so it’s become a struggle.

“We would have closed for the winter after the October half-term anyway but we just decided it made sense for us to shut now.”

Thieves targeted the farm in September last year and stole �1,000 worth of property including two turkey sheds. No turkeys were stolen.

Five generations of the family have lived at the farm and Mr Flint said he, his wife Kim and their two children will continue to live there.

They will carry on looking after the farm’s animals which include sheep, goats, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Mr Flint said: “I’d like to thank everyone for all their support - we’ve really appreciated it during our five years in business.

“We hope we’ve helped Wisbech benefit as a result and though it’s a shame we’re closing it’s been a real experience.”