Medieval Merriment: Walter’s and Arthur’s Visit to the Bruce Festival

*This week, our Golden Retriever tour guide, Walter, takes over the blog to share his recent adventure bringing his younger brother, Arthur, to the Bruce Festival in Dunfermline, Scotland.

It’s been a little while since I last recounted one of our adventures (an epic trip to the Scottish Borders). Therefore, I was thrilled when I was told that I would be able to take over the blog again. This week I'm going to take you on a special journey to medieval Scotland. So, join me on a noble quest that is filled with jousting knights on horseback, Scottish heroes, delicious food, and fun for the whole family!

Now, I previously established my interest in being a knight in shining armour when I wrote about my boat adventure to Loch Katrine. So, I literally jumped for joy when I heard that Mom and Dad had booked their tickets to the Bruce Festival- an event that was to feature jousting! I have been diligently teaching my little brother, Arthur, on our explorations around Scotland, and I knew that this event would be the perfect opportunity to show him what it means to be a chivalrous knight.

The night before the Festival, I supervised Mom as she got our adventure backpack ready. While she packed the necessary essentials (i.e. treats), I frowned in disappointment as I realised that we did not have appropriate costumes for the re-enactments. Now, to be clear, we have a wardrobe filled with a variety of costumes. However, it really is quite shameful that we do not have any knight outfits. We’ll have to remedy this soon as we are living in Scotland after all and medieval history surrounds us everywhere we go!

To help prepare Arthur for the Bruce Festival, I gave him a quick refresher of the importance of the person whose life the festival celebrates- King Robert the Bruce. I reminded him how I took him to pay our respects at Melrose Abbey where Bruce’s heart is buried, and I also used our blog post on the Battle of Bannockburn to help me recount a key event he played in Scottish history. Lastly, I tried to recall some of the stories that I’ve heard Dad tell visitors on our walking tours of Edinburgh. I’m not sure how much information Arthur retained (his attention span is not the greatest), but I did my best and could only hope he wouldn’t embarrass me at the festival.

The next day, Arthur woke me up extra early as he was clearly very excited for our trip to the Bruce Festival. I was also eager but tried to play it cool as I have a serious reputation I try to maintain. We watched as Mom and Dad loaded up the car, and before I knew it, we were setting off for Dunfermline in the Kingdom of Fife!

I knew we were in for a treat as soon as we arrived in Pittencrieff Park as the scents of delicious food guided our way. We arrived early, but that gave us the opportunity to get an initial lay of the land without the crowds. Some of the aspects were not exactly medieval, but at least the kids’ area included an appropriately themed bouncy castle.

We slowly walked through the Artisan Market which had booths selling a variety of handmade products.

As we walked around the grounds, I stopped to listen to a lovely brass band set up to greet me. On second thought, perhaps they were there to welcome all the festival visitors.

After enjoying the music, I tried to control my excitement as we reached the medieval encampment. There were lots of people in period costume as well as fascinating demonstrations such as baking, weaving, and even medieval medicine. I was worried that last booth might scare Arthur, and we quickly moved on.

There was even an area that had squire training for the kids. Unfortunately, that didn’t include young pups. However, I made sure to share some of the training that I received from my older brother, Sawyer, with Arthur. For those of you who may not know, Sawyer was an accomplished tour guide and traveller who had extensive medieval knowledge that he passed along to me before he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

We eventually came upon the stone lifting area where competitions were to be held throughout the day. I was amazed at the size of some of the stones with the largest one at 140kg. That’s more than Arthur and I combined!

Looking at the schedule of events, I realised that we needed to make our way over to Arena 1 to make sure that we secured a good viewing area for the highlight of the Bruce Festival- the jousting.

On our way, we quickly stopped and said hello to some of the horses that would be competing. Albeit, at a distance because I didn’t want Arthur’s over-exuberant behaviour to startle them. He seemed a bit confused by them and I explained that they were horses and part of the Les-Amis jousting group. Mom and Dad have seen them before including at the Traquair Medieval Fayre and ScottFest. I have to admit that my goofy grin (as seen below) probably betrays how excited I was to see the horses as well😂.

Eventually we found a good spot to watch the jousting, and we eagerly waited for the competition to begin (although I did take a much-needed wee rest as evidenced by the photo below).

Boy was it worth the wait! Arthur and I were completely mesmerised by the horses and their riders.

I think the best part of the event was seeing the main man himself- King Robert the Bruce- who looked very regal on horseback.

Overall, we had an incredible time at the Bruce Festival, and it was the highlight of my year so far. It was a day filled with medieval fun where people of all ages revelled in the festivities. Hopefully they will have the event again next year. If so, I highly recommend that you check it out.

If you have enjoyed this ‘explore and discover’ mission, be sure to follow Arthur and I online. Mom and Dad said to tell you that you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube. Be sure to also subscribe to our blog (you can click on the button at the end of this post). While Mom and Dad write most of our travel articles from around Scotland, they told me that I will be able to write more posts in the future. While it’s news to me, they said Arthur will soon recount some of his travel stories as well. I guess I can share blog writing duties (as long as he knows that I have seniority).

Until next time- Explore & Discover!

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