Castle is the Holy Grail for Python fans

Hundreds of Monty Python fans are to descend on the Scottish castle where the team shot the concluding scenes of the Holy Grail movie next month.

Doune Castle is preparing to welcome 500 fans dressed up like their heroes on September 4, when they will act out sketches, watch actors perform famous Python sketches and watch the 1973  movie.

Historic Scotland has even ordered in 1,200 coconut shells to allow them to ‘clip clop’ along with the film. 

Doune Castle, right, was the location for the key scenes in the move when John Cleese, as a rude Frenchman, sees off the Knights  of the Round Table by declaiming at them: ‘I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.’

Events manager Nick Finnigan said: ‘We have a fantastic day planned with prizes for the best Monty  Python costumes and sketches by fans; they don’t even have to be from the Holy Grail.

‘Everyone will get a goodie bag full of fun stuff and props, like the coconut shells, to use during the film.

It is the second annual Monty Python Day the castle, just outside Stirling, has held.

Last year’s audience included a  hen party from New York and a group of bikers on Harley-Davidsons.

Tickets, priced £15, are available from 0131 473 2000.

Python fans account for up to third of the 25,000 visitors Dune  Castle attracts each year.

Published: 22 Aug 2005