NEARLY 1,000 people have visited the Cartmel Peninsula to see a dazzling display of Christmas cheer.

Jeremy and Mandy Voakes say around 50 vehicles have stopped outside their Cark home every evening since December 1, when they switched on thousands of lights to raise cash for the NSPCC.

“Every time we look out of the window there are another two of three cars,” said Mr Voakes. “The local taxi companies say people take diversions to come and see it. We’ve also had people from Liverpool and Yorkshire.”

The lights cost around £1.60 an hour to run.

Every year the display has got bigger and brighter and now takes up 200 plugs and 17 days to install.

“It really is a big job,” said Mr Voakes, who works as a vet in Grange. We start at the end of October and then I take a week off in November to finish it.”

The family, including children, Jessica, 11, David, 17, and Amy, 19, started raising money for charity in 2008, when they pulled in around £75 for the NSPCC, which increased to around £1,300 last year.

Now the family, who foot the electricity bill out of their own pockets, hope to beat that figure this year.

They have also entered a competition to win another £1,000 for the NSPCC, and need people to vote for them on the Facebook site of company, Lights 4 Fun.

“This is an amazing display of Christmas lights and an innovative way of raising funds for us,” said Kim Kimberlee-Smith, NSPCC community fundraising manager in Cumbria.

“We couldn’t do it without support like this.”

The lights will be on between 4pm and 10pm nightly until January 5.