Residents have expressed concern after a wedding venue in South Gloucestershire had its licence extended.

Old Down Estate in Tockington can now hold functions over a much wider area, to the annoyance of villagers who claim the noise from events is already “intolerable”.

The venue has been hosting weddings and events since 2010. Its licence allowed alcohol sales and music in the manor house and the immediate surrounding area.

On Tuesday that licence was extended to include a large neighbouring field, known as the Festival Field, within the 66-acre estate.

A barn in the field, Foxholes Barn, will be the new wedding and events area.

An agent for Arron and Ekaterina Banks, who submitted the licence application, said that, other than weddings, the estate holds “occasional” events, mainly over summer.

But a dozen members of the community objected to the application, fearing the extension would only worsen the “intolerable” noise from music and fireworks that “rolls down the hillside” from the estate during events.

Villagers claimed the noise was so loud at times that it woke their sleeping children, “terrified” farm animals, and caused their windows to vibrate and a pet dog to “shake”.

But members of a South Gloucestershire Council licensing committee felt that the measures the estate must take under the terms of its licence would prevent the noise from events from becoming a public nuisance.

The committee heard that very loud fireworks were set off during a private Christmas party last December, but that the estate had banned that company from ever hiring the venue again because they had used the fireworks against their express instructions.

“These [private functions] will be a lot more closely supervised in future,” the applicants’ agent, Peter Rosser, said.

Professional fireworks are not allowed under the terms of the licence granted to the estate on Tuesday.

Fireworks cannot be any louder than 120 decibels, and all outdoor live and recorded music must stop by 11pm.

Lauren Lever, the estate’s head of operations, told the committee that, other than weddings,  Old Down Estate holds around half a dozen events a year.

These include events such as a garden party or county fair, open air cinema, and fireworks on bonfire night in November.

Ms Lever said the estate usually hosts up to 750 people at a time, and that most functions finish by 9pm.

The committee heard that the council has not received any complaints about the estate in the past three years.