'We're flying more than 4,000 miles for carnival'

Carnival lovers Tiffany and her dad Bob are travelling to Somerset from Colorado to watch Bridgwater Carnival

An American family who are travelling more than 4,600 miles to watch a UK carnival say they are “super excited” to see it in real life.

Tiffany Crumrine, 52, from Colorado, came across the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival on TikTok last year and said she "could not get enough" of it.

"The floats, the lights, the music, the coordinated choreography. It’s like nothing I have ever seen before," she said.

The illuminated procession, which is in Somerset and the largest in Europe, gets under way at 18:00 BST on Saturday and is expected to attract between 130,000 and 150,000 people to the town.

Ms Crumrine decided to book a hotel room in Bridgwater after a video of the carnival procession “wound up” on her TikTok feed.

“After seeing the video I followed the account and just could not get enough of the parade,” she told the BBC.

The West Country carnival circuits are an annual celebration that happen around bonfire night and date back to the gunpowder plot of 1605.

Carnival clubs across the region spend all year making carts for the parades, which cost thousands of pounds to construct.

Carnival clubs spend thousands of pounds each year on their illuminated carts

“The lights and the music, everyone spinning out of control and the different themes is right up our alley,” Ms Crumrine continued.

She is coming to the carnival with her 76-year-old dad, Bob Crumrine, who has never flown overseas before.

“I asked him if he would come along. He was all on board,” she said.

“My father and I are both big nerds, so we can’t wait to see the engineering of the floats, the hydraulics, the speakers, everything.

“He was a DJ and used to have an amusement ride, so loves this kind of stuff. He has been watching YouTube videos non-stop since we decided to do this.”

The pair are arriving into London on Friday before taking a whistle stop tour of the West Country – visiting Bath and Weston-super-Mare before arriving in Bridgwater for a fireworks event and lantern parade.

“We fly in on Friday and will go back after the weekend. We’re coming predominately for the carnival and we can’t wait for it,” Ms Crumrine said.