THE circus came to town, visiting Stroud High Street on Friday.

Accompanied by two front-of-house girls from Giffords Circus, author and circus founder Nell Gifford unveiled her new book at a signing event held at Stroud Bookshop.

30 copies of Giffords Circus, The First Ten Years were sold during the morning, and the sight of performers from the circus, which originated in the Cotswolds, certainly proved popular and caught the attention of passers-by.

The book tells the story of a girl who ran away to join an American circus instead of taking up a place at Oxford University, and it appears to have captured the hearts and minds of adults and children alike.

With well-loved characters including Tweedy and Circus Flora featuring in the behind-the-scenes illustrated book, Kerry Green from the book publishers The History Press said that it was a pleasure working with such great material.

Speaking during the release of the book, Nell Gifford said: “Tweedy read the book and absolutely loved it. We get so busy with the show we never really have time to look back and reflect on what we’ve achieved so this is a nice way to document the history of Giffords Circus. It’s been really well received so far.”

Since 2000 the circus company and their painted wagons have toured Gloucestershire and the rural Southwest, entertaining over 250,000 people.

Giffords Circus, The First Ten Years is published by The History Press, cost £25.