SOGGY weather hasn’t put a damper on visitor numbers at a leading Hampshire tourist attraction.

Bosses at Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey say the dismal wet August has had the opposite affect and more tourists visited the former Augustinian priory this August then the previous one.

Mottisfont’s visitor experience and communities’ manager Louise Govier said: “Rain of course always does affect us, but actually, we’ve done even better this August than we did last year – and it was a bumper year last year.

“Last month we’ve had 28,038 visitors, compared to 27,148 for the same days last year.”

Louise added: “We’ve been finding firstly that on the non-rainy days we’ve been really busy. The Lauren Child Charlie and Lola exhibition and trail is bringing in lots of families, and also that even on our rainy days, we’ve still had more visitors than expected.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that holidaymakers still need somewhere to go when it’s wet, so more of them come to us, as there’s a mix of indoor and outdoor things to do.

“Our British visitors always seem to be well-equipped for the weather with rain coats, and I don’t think they let the wet stop them.”

However, officials at the region’s biggest theme park – Paultons Park at Ower on the edge of the New Forest are hoping for a settled spell of weather.

Commercial director Stephen Lorton said: “The weather may not have been ideal for outdoor attractions during the last few weeks of August but as soon as the rain clears I am sure things will improve.

“We are all looking forward to what will hopefully be a drier September and October period”

Ice cream sellers have been hit badly by the rainy weather.

Beverley Davies manager of Carlo’s Ices at Wellow near Romsey said: “It’s had a really bad effect on our sales.

“You cannot sell ice creams in rainy weather, we need some sunshine.”

More than double the average rainfall fell across many parts of Hampshire in August – making it the wettest month since 2011 when just over six inches (152 millimetres) was recorded at Mottisfont.