Stonehenge prepares for 2024 Winter Solstice
It marks the shortest day and the longest night
Thousands of people are set to descent on Stonehenge in the early hours of Saturday morning (21st December) for the Winter Solstice.
It marks the shortest day and the longest night with the northern hemisphere at it's furthest point from the sun.
English Heritage's Richard Dewdney told us it's still a popular event - despite the colder weather.
He said: "Part of the magic and mystery of winter solstice, or any of the Solstice, you never know quite how many people are going to arrive because it's such a such a popular thing, and it means so many different things to many different people.
"Usually winter sauces is probably about half the number of summer Solstice, so you're looking at 3,000 to 4000 people, but it is a weekend, so we don't know how many people are going to arrive. Obviously we plan for large numbers."
He's urging people attending to use public transport, with Salisbury Reds running buses from Amesbury and Salisbury throughout the early hours.
Earlier this year, the ancient stones were the scene of a protest by Just Stop Oil activists, where they sprayed orange powder onto the stones.
Richard is reminding visitors to respect the stones.
"We're very fortunate to be able to do the managed open access to allow people into the site to celebrate the winter solstice," Richard said.
He added: "We always get a really, really good behaviour from people coming at winter Solstice, people very much get that message that it's one of the rare communal events that still kind of happen in our modern world."
The gates and café at the Visitor Centre open at 5:15am, with the monument field opening at 7:45am.
Sunrise is due just after 8.00am.