Last weekend, a small village in Scotland which holds its annual autumn festival around a mushroom theme, transformed itself into a Nordic wonderland for four days of fun.
Every year since 2001, the town of Aberfoyle in the middle of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, has held a cultural festival in honour of the mushroom. In previous years, the Aberfoyle International Mushroom Festival has invited participants from Finland, the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Ireland.
This year the festival was opened by Anna Magnusson, a producer for the BBC, and daughter of probably the most famous Icelander in the UK, Magnus Magnusson.
Baggalutur, one of the most famous country and western bands from Iceland, entertained crowds who enjoyed Icelandic delicacies brought from the Nordic island including skyr, a yogurt-like dish, and Icelandic vodka.
In addition to two Icelandic chefs who were in Aberfoyle to prepare traditional food for the masses, a local artist, Isobel Bartholomew led amateur artists in a fungi painting class and mycologist Liz Holden led adventurous foragers into the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park to hunt for wild mushrooms.
Fergus Wood, chairman of the festival committee, said: “Aberfoyle has long had a strong connection with Iceland. Members of the Magnusson family, who have lived in the area for years, are very much recognised as being a very tangible link between Iceland and Scotland.”