8,000 people enjoy Scottish Festival at Sychrov Chateau

The 4th Annual Scottish Games Czech Open was held on Saturday at the beautiful chateux of Sychrov to the north of Prague in the region known as Czech Paradise. I was there myself on Saturday and it certainly wasn't a Czech paradise - but it was one for those visiters with a love for anything Scottish.

8,000 people enjoy Scottish Festival at Sychrov Chateau

Scottish Festival at Sychrov Chateau, photo: CTK

There was so much going on it's quite difficult to relate it all to you precisely, but on my stroll around the grounds of Sychrov I witnessed some colourful displays of Highland Dancing, with around 500 visiters being encouraged by the Scottish Ceiledh trio to let go off their inhibitions and join in. And I have to say that they were rather good - especicially later after a few drams of Scotch whisky had loosened everyone up.

Anyway - it was there I had a word with one man who was certainly pleased with the day - the director of Sychrov Castle, Miroslav Kadlec.

"You can see there are Scots here and lovers of Scotland and this is happening more and more. We started four years ago with around 2,000 visiters. Last year there were 8,000 and we'll see how many come this year."

They matched that figure - thankfully the rain held off and 8,000 people came once more to witness what to some bizarre Scottish tests of strength and skill. Such as the famous tossing of the caber and stone throwing.

One thing that didn't seem to be going too well though was the sale of the traditional Scottish dish, Haggis. I think that word had got round about the ingredients.