LAST weekend's scorching weather helped Kington Carnival to one of the best turnouts of recent years.

Floats and people in fancy dress paraded through the town representing various countries for this year's theme of Around the World.

And as temperatures rivalled those in the Caribbean, festival-goers could have been forgiven for thinking they had travelled around the world.

Organiser Nikki Jones was thrilled with the day and the outcome of all the hard work.

"It was absolutely brilliant," she said.

"We had more people and more floats than we had seen for four or five years and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.

"The tug-of-war and children's races added a bit of interactivity and were a real success.

"After putting in so much time and effort it was really nice to have people come up and say they were having a great time."

The Johnny Price memorial cup for best float went to Small Children of Around the World, and fancy dress winners were Claire Buckingham for her Eskimo in the children's section and Artie Attwood as Croco Dial Artie in the adults section.

Festival organisers have praised the Arts Council of England for lottery funding which sponsored the performances, art workshops, story telling and many other art activities.

Plans are now underway for a massive festival next year to mark the event's 30th anniversary.