Welcome to the Cotswold Olimpicks

Home of the World Shinkicking Championships

The next Games is scheduled for Friday 4th June 2021

 

It was a shame that we were unable to hold The Games on the hill this year but it was, of course, for the best and it has given us a chance to think about next year (hopefully!), do a bit of fundraising and as you can see from the gallery below, hold some socially distant events instead.

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These historic games were first held more than 12 centuries after the last ancient Greek Olympics and almost 3 centuries before the modern Olympic Games, which began in 1896.  2021 will celebrate our 409th anniversary and the games are still held in the arena that bears the founder's name - Dover's Hill.  

 

It now also marks the end of festival season in Chipping Campden, following hot on the heels of the International Music Festival and the Literary Festival.  If you're heading here on holiday, you might as well make a weekend of it and stay for Scuttlebrook Wake on the Saturday too.  Follow us on Social Media to stay in the loop about this year's games.

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2020 Static Torchlit Procession!
Photos from previous Olimpick Games

The Castle is Built a Week Before the Games

Watch the video of The Games

Videos courtesy of Andrew Duke 2018

"...Events come and go; the novelty passes.  But Robert Dover's Games continue to attract crowds to Dover's Hill on a late May or early June evening.  One may ask why and offer emotional reasons - The setting has its romantic qualities.  The sound of a band, particularly a pipe band, echoing across a hillside can be haunting.  Bearing a torch aloft can evoke the past.  Combine all three elements in the procession from the hillside as darkness falls and one can feel part of the agelessness of ways in which people have always enjoyed themselves."    

 

Dr Francis Burns  -  A life-long friend to and scholar of The Games

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The home of the Shin Kicking World Championships:
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Copyright 2020 Robert Dover's Games Society

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The Games are only able to go ahead with the kind permission of The National Trust & John Robbins esq.