SCOTTISH GAME FAIR

Saturday, July 5^th, was yet another adventuresome day as we took the advice of many locals who encouraged us to go to the Scottish Game Fair on the grounds of Scone Palace. The palace is just a little ways down from the house, and so we opted to walk to the event.  We packed a picnic lunch of fruit, sandwiches (called “sarnies” by the locals), carrot sticks, and drinks.  The day started kind of wet, cloudy, and cool, but when we decided to make the trek to the festival (about 9:30), the rains were breaking.  The walk to the festival was all mostly downhill, and the views were really fantastic: cow pastures rolling as far as the eye can see, mountains and hills in the distance, and a sky that swirled with clouds and sunshine leaking through.  

We got to the gate of Scone Palace in about 20 minutes, then took the pedestrian route all the way in.  That route led us down a small road through the grounds of the estate, grounds that include wildlife, a small house looked to be a care taker’s/gate keeper’s cottage, and the scenery as we made our way down was like something out of a book or movie.  It was just us, and there were many times we talked about how unbelievable it was.  The walk down to the fair included a great children’s playground in the woods that even had a zip line that the kids loved. 

We had added about another 30 minutes to the trek by now, and we could see ahead through the woods the droves of people pouring in for the festival.  We made our way down to the lines, paid our way in, and found ourselves amidst ourtdoorsmen/women of every stripe.  There were tents of arts and crafts, hunting rifles and scopes, camo, rubber boots, fishing rods, lures, tractors, cars, kids inflatables, and a whole lot more.  We really were amazed at all the people, many of whom brought their dogs.  We loved people watching and dog spotting.  Lots of hunting dogs entered various field trial competitions, and that was a real joy to see the animals work.  We wandered around and had a great time experiencing a different side of the Scottish culture, a side that I really resonated with more than I expected.

The big crowd pleasure, I have to say, was the New Zealand, sheep shearer.  He was a traveling showman, a guy who does a sheep show on the stage of a trailor that he pulls behind his rig.  He was educational and entertaining, and it was a great family show.  At the main stage, we also enjoyed shows by the Welsh Axe Men (who did amazing things with chained saws too), a lady who brought out various birds that flew right near us (eagles, falcons, and crows), and the sheep guy who did a great presentation of herding dogs, who worked a little flock of ducks in an amazing way right in front of us and even got little kids involved. 

As the hours of the day passed by so quickly, we enjoyed lots of warm sunshine, blue skies, and the kindness of many people.  We went expecting more of a Scottish hammer throw competition and bagpipes and all that, but we learned that this event was all about hunting, fishing, land management, resource preservation, and all the things that relate to those sort of activities.  There were droves of families and children, people of all ages enjoying God’s glorious outdoors, the creativity of people, and the kind of community that comes from sharing a really great event.  What an enjoyable day, and as we soaked it all in we felt really blessed beyond our deserving.  I couldn’t help but thinking about the notion of stewardship: for the land, for all of God’s resources, for creatures great and small, and for one another.  By the way, we all agreed that the port-a-potties were without a doubt the cleanest we had ever seen!

We began the trek home around 5:00 ish, and my what a trek it was.  We hiked out a bit of a quicker route from the property and were encouraged by the easier path off the property because the traffic line was really long.  What we learned once we reached the main road is that it was no short cut.  We still had a couple of miles to walk back, this time—you guessed it—mostly on a gradual incline.  We were all a bit tired from the day, but we soldiered on and got back home hungry and ready for some food.  So we went to town and ate a wonderful meal at Wetherspoons, the beloved restaurant just next to the church.  We came home, and mom and Lisa got their heads around a Sunday afternoon trip to St. Andrews, and Sarah helped them get the buses and train schedules all squared away.  We all crashed hard with Sunday in our sites, looking forward to worship at St. Matts.