Giffords Circus had announced the title of their 2017 show months ago and though we'd read reviews, we still had no idea what the story would be.  Having seen the show, I'm still not sure I could tell it to you, but that's not the point.  The setting of the 17th Century Spanish Court was a great excuse to dress up in silk brocades and have some fun.

We'd seen the circus wagons in their usual spot on the Common and looked forward to our visit, having snagged tickets ages ago.

Even though we arrived in plenty of time, knowing it was going to be a full house, the fun had already begun.  My apologies to the lady who looks as though she's carrying a sign to the loos - it's just a trick of the camera!

There's always good things on offer, but we had tickets for supper in Circus Sauce afterwards, so we resisted temptation!  It was hard...

Not quite so hard to resist testing some of the other facilities though!  Life on the move must be - errrmm- interesting don't you think?

Time to take our places and settle into the show, then, watching Tweedy the Clown work his usual magic in getting the audience laughing.

The costumes were lavish and the music eclectic - Blondie, Handel and Vivaldi?  Such is the fun and the spirit.

Never a dull moment, it's a fast and furious show.  Though we missed some familiar faces this year, every act was as spectacular as the last one and we loved every minute.

And of course, it's more than just the circus.  It's the company of friends, it's making our way over to the restaurant tent afterwards and passing huge plates of food around large tables with whoever happens to be there that night.

It's good food too, freshly prepared in the galley.  Local ingredients served family style - a crab thermidor amuse-bouche followed by globe artichokes with hollandaise sauce.  Yum.

The main course lamb was served with colourful vegetables too.

Those galley windows don't just allow an insight into the kitchen, but later on provide a stage for the crazy antics of the Circus Sauce crew, who have created a tradition of putting on a bit of a show.

What was it about?  I have no idea!  It involved pirates...a good deal of giggling...

A geordie sailor and a bottle of Newcastle Brown came into it somewhere and there was a mermaid too (who might just have lost her tail...)   Huge fun and all part of the show.

And there it was, over for another year.  Or was it?

When we first talked about getting tickets, a similar conversation was going on with my book group friends.  They too were thinking of getting together and asked if I'd like to join them. Well, why not?   So, yesterday afternoon, less than twenty four hours after all of that, I was back in the tent with another set of jolly people, enjoying the show all over again.  No supper afterwards this time, but just as much fun and frivolity.

How could I resist a second bite of the cherry?  Loved it!