LYMINGTON Seafood Festival has been hailed as a great success – despite “challenging” weather on the opening day.

An estimated 12,000 foodies flocked to Bath Road Park to enjoy the event, which this year was supporting the Lymington branch of the RNLI.

Strong winds resulted in the closure of 25 stalls and the demonstration kitchen on Saturday.

But conditions started to improve towards the end of the day and all the stalls were open on Sunday.

Organiser Domine Nowell said: “The British weather tried its best to beat us, so it was great to see so many people turning up to support the festival. We were monitoring weather forecasts from Wednesday onwards and in constant communication with our stallholders.

“Unfortunately, those cooking with gas or on charcoal were unable to trade on Saturday and several other stands didn’t feel confident their gazebos could withstand the high winds.

“We tried to jig things around to create an even more packed show for the Sunday.”