EVERY November the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby becomes the fancy dress capital of the country.

Thousands of enthusiasts of all ages – dressed in everything from High Victoriana to contemporary Goth style – converge on the town that is famed as the setting for Bram Stoker’s iconic Dracula novel.

Among those heading for Whitby Goth Weekend, which starts tomorrow, will be three friends, Nix Dawes, Adele Wilkinson and Marilyn Heptinstall – two from Huddersfield, one from Calderdale – who have been preparing for the event for months.

They’ve all been to the festival before and say they can hardly wait.

“It’s like a big party all weekend,” says Nix, who works as an estate agent in Huddersfield, but is also a qualified embalmer – a suitably gothic profession.

She added: “People of all ages go – whole families. Even dogs get dressed up as well.”

For Nix, 42, from Mytholmroyd, this will be her third visit to the festival.

But she says her 22-year-old son doesn’t understand her fascination with fancy dress.

“He is totally embarrassed by everything I do, including this,’’ she said.

The festival lasts for two nights so most visitors take at least two costumes with them. Nix has put together her own Friday evening fancy dress which is themed, perhaps not surprisingly, around the Addams family character Morticia.

On Saturday she will be dressed in a magenta Victorian dress which she has hired.

Adele, 46, from Birkby, has been to Whitby Goth Weekend once before and was so impressed by the outfits she saw she decided to design and sew her own.

She said: “I was in awe of all the beautiful costumes so for Friday night I have made a black silk Victorian dress from some vintage silk that I bought on eBay.

“And then for Saturday I have made a bustle dress and a hat. I would say I’m a good amateur seamstress and I’ve been working on my costumes since March.”

The Whitby experience also inspired Adele to propose to her partner of 27 years, Steve Nutter, and the couple, who run a family electrical business, will be tying the knot at next year’s Goth Weekend although this year he will be staying at home.

She is already working on her dress for the big day, a copy of a late 19th century Victorian dress from the Victoria and Albert Museum in ivory silk. Steve will also be kitted out in a Victorian costume with an original top hat – another eBay purchase.

Adele says her two children, aged 23 and 24, who have never been to the Whitby festival, are amused by their mum’s desire to dress up.

“They think we’re all a bit bonkers,” she said.

Marilyn, 59, an estate agent from Golcar, will also be wearing a late Victorian outfit for the Saturday evening – Adele made the skirt for her – but has chosen a steam punk costume for tomorrow. Steam punk is inspired by science fiction/fantasy stories of a retro steam-powered future. She put the outfit together herself.

Nix and Marilyn work together at Bramley’s estate agents in Huddersfield and first found out about Whitby Goth Weekend when a colleague returned with photographs of the event.

“It got us interested,” said Marilyn. “There’s a fantastic atmosphere there – it’s like New Year’s Eve for the whole weekend.”

Her three sons are also bemused by the friends’ trips to Whitby.

“Kids seem to think that over the age of 30 you don’t have fun any more, but we step it up every year,” she said.

The festival is now so popular that accommodation in the town is fully booked by spring each year and the streets are crowded with ‘promenaders.’

“It started as a music festival and the hard core Goths went for the music,” explained Nix. “But now a lot of people go to promenade in their costumes. It can take you half an hour to go down one street because you keep stopping to talk to other people, look at each other’s costumes and take photographs.”

The women say that far from feeling odd in their period costumes and fancy dress, it is the people who don’t dress up who feel left out.

Adele said: “We go in character and stay in character for the whole weekend. It’s just an amazing experience – everybody is in such good humour.”