The hugely popular Carters Steam Fair is making a welcome return to West Wycombe after its cancellation last year.

The brightly decorated vintage vehicles from Carters will arrive with an assortment of fairground rides and attractions for a two-week stay at the Pedestal Field.

They will arrive on Saturday, July 10, and will open the next day (July 11) and then again the next weekend, July 17 and 18.

It is the first time Carters will be heading back out onto the road since 2019 and are looking forward to welcoming visitors back again - in a Covid-safe way.

Dating from the 1890s to the 1960s, the vintage fairground rides have featured in films such as Paddington 2 and Rocketman and are usually taken on tour around the south east.

But the fair had to be grounded last year because of the coronavirus restrictions.

Fairground owner Joby Carter - who has become a sensation on social media site TikTok for his amazing signwriting skills - is encouraging visitors to book online so numbers can be monitored.

There will also be hand sanitising stations, staff will be wearing masks, and the rides will be cleaned and sanitised at regular intervals.

The rides will also be laid out further apart to enable more space for visitors to social distance from others as they move around.

Visitors to the fair are encouraged to wear a mask when they are near others.

Although it was a huge blow not being able to travel the fair in 2020, the traditional artwork and hand painted lettering at the fair has become a social media sensation in its own right.

On TikTok, videos of Joby painting straight lines and lettering have amassed nearly 400,000 views.

Over 3,000 people all over the world joined Joby's virtual signwriting and lettering courses and 5,000 copies of his book ‘Signwriting Tips, Tricks and Inspiration’ that was published during the pandemic have been sold.

The global interest in the traditional signwriting and fairground art skills has helped save the fair and ensure it can continue to be on the road for everyone to enjoy.

Joby said: "It’s great to be out on tour again after a year in lockdown and I’m excited to set up the fair in Pedestal Field which has many great memories for us.

“We’ve put a lot of thought and planning into how we could make the fair experience as Covid-secure as possible, and we felt that people would like peace of mind when they visited us.

"We know some families that haven’t even been to play areas during the pandemic, so we wanted to find a way to bring back the family fun and the smiles to children’s faces, but in a way that was as reassuring as possible for the parents.

"Our focus right now is on creating good old-fashioned fun for families in a covid-secure way.”

Talking about his impressive signwriting skills, Joby said: “I encourage anyone visiting to take a close look at the lettering and artwork at the fair - it has all been done by hand using traditional signwriting skills and techniques – no computers or fancy software programmes!

"During lockdown I was thrilled to see the interest in these traditional skills and I have now shared these skills globally – I think we’ve had book purchases from over 40 countries so far!

"I hope you enjoy the artwork as you stroll around the fair. If you’d like to give signwriting or fancy lettering a try yourself, you can even buy a copy of the book when you visit or come to one of my courses in Maidenhead later in the year."

Book your visit to Pedestal Fields here - www.carterssteamfair.co.uk/visit/pedestal-field/