I always love coming north of the border....it has a much more European feel than England. Perth, where we were staying, is beautiful with some lovely independent shops (always a bonus with me) as well as all the high street chains and some excellent restaurants. Some of our favorite eateries this time included The Manzil (Indian), Cafe Breizh (fab French) and Paco's Retaurant.
We came up for the Scottish Game Fair - heaven on earth for all you hunting, shooting, fishing types out there. The setting just below Scone Palace (pronounced Skoon) is fantastic - right on the river Tay.
Okay, so the weather wasn't fab on the first afternoon but it cleared up nicely for the next couple of days. So much for weatherman Pete's predictions....
One of the highlights of the show this year was The Sheep Show (no pic unfortunately as he was always mobbed by enthusiastic punters & I was laughing so hard that camera shake became an issue). It was brilliant and well worth seeing if he comes to a county show near you (dates & venues are on their website). It is educational but with typical Kiwi humour (ie very rude aimed at the adults but which goes way over the heads of the younger audience).
Every day the show is opened by a traditional highland pipe band - always makes me go weak at the knees (men in skirts - how could it not!!!). The photo is of the Blairgowrie, Rattray and District Pipe Band playing on Saturday morning.
Check out the leopard skin on the drummer - maybe some connection to the South African Rattay's of Fugitive's Drift???
Also on the daily programme is the Elaine Hill Sheep Dog Display - mostly smooth & rough coated border collies but also a bearded collie / border collie cross herding geese, Indian runner ducks and ducklings. Very funny as the birds don't make it easy!!!
The Scottish Game Fair really is a great day out for the whole family - gun dog demonstrations, airplane flying displays, terrier racing (you could die laughing at these little chaps - they are so keen to catch that rabbit that they plow through all the obstacles and cause absolute mayhem), falconry & ferret displays and last but certainly not least Clann an Drumma (an unusual Scottish band using unique pipe & drumming combinations). Quite a primal performance - do listen to them here .
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