Records show that, up to 1964, over 70 performances of the plays had been given, attended by approximately 30,000 people. Over 300 people had been numbered in the casts, and over 40 horses had taken part! Dorian's last production was in 1983 and he died in 1985, although with the exception of 1988 when the Manor was being refurbished, the Festival continued.

A stunning firework display celebrated the 50th anniversary in 1999 and in 2001 Sarah Branston took over the running of the festival. Sarah's parents met at the festival, during Love's Labour's Lost, and Jennie gave birth to Sarah during As You Like It. Due to the hotel's expansion and leisure centre project, the performances were moved along side the hotel's rose garden to a back drop of a leafy bank. Sarah, and her team, took this all in their stride. 2003's productions, Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives, and The Winter's Tale, saw record box office figures for recent years, and we achieved even greater results in 2004 with A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night.