Thousands to attend Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
English Heritage say they're expecting as many as 15,000 people tonight
An estimated 15,000 people are expected to make their way to Stonehenge tonight for Summer Solstice celebrations.
The event marks the longest day and the shortest night of the year and is what the ancient monument is aligned on.
Stonehenge Operations Manager, Julia Richardson, said: "During the summer solstice, the sun rises on the horizon and the first lights shoot down past the heel stone and to the middle of the Stonehenge Monument, and then hit the giant trilithon in the middle of the inner horseshoe and then goes on out the back."
Julia described Summer Solstice as "a huge event" in the English Heritage calendar, with organisers spending three months planning for one evening.
"We want to make sure that everything is set up and it's all safe for all our visitors that are coming. So we look into having food and refreshments, as well as well-being and welfare arrangements, so that when you come, there's everything that you might need to make sure you have a lovely experience with us," she said.
With this year's event falling on a weekend, and with the weather set to be good, English Heritage is bracing itself for a bumper crowd.
"We never really know how many people are going to come to a solstice event each year," Julia said, adding: "We usually get up to about 15,000. We might even get a little bit more than that this year, so we really are expecting lots of people to be coming and engaging with Stonehenge."
It's a rare opportunity to get inside the stone circle, but visitors are asked to do their part in protecting the stones and the lichens that grow on them by not touching them.
Travel together, or on public transport
Visitors are also asked to car share where possible, or to use public transport, when attending the event, to ease congestion on surrounding roads and free up the limited spaces for parking.
For the first time, people parking onsite are able to pay the £20 parking charge via the Pay by Phone parking app.
Visitors are asked to download the app before arriving to ensure the process is as smooth as possible when reaching the car park, which opens at 7pm on Friday.
For those not driving to the Stone Circle, Salisbury Reds is putting on its special 333 bus service between the city centre and Stonehenge.
Buses begin running from 6.30pm until 1am, before resuming at 4am and ending at 10am on Saturday morning.
The buses will go from Stand U on New Canal and Salisbury Train Station.
Anyone who isn't going to the ancient monument can follow the sunset and sunrise on a livestream on the English Heritage YouTube and Facebook channels.