'I went on tour with the circus three days after I was born'

Maddie Cottle Dock was literally born into the circus.

For within three days of arriving into the world in Paisley, Renfrewshire, she joined her parents as they hit the road with Cottle and Austen's Circus.

Now 21 she is back in Scotland as a performer in her own right, continuing a family legacy that stretches back to the 19th century.

"On my great grandmother's side being in the circus goes back around 200 years so I really was bred to do it in a way," she says.

Maddie took her first steps as a performer aged two or three, part of the dance routines between the various clowns, acrobats and stunts.

She now performs a high-energy routine on roller-skates under the name Maddox Dock for Circus Extreme.

Maddie said: "I love it - both the the travelling and the performing. It’s special to be part of.

"I’m circus obsessed so I could never imagine doing anything else, really."

Her parents were both performers while her grandfather was Gerry Cottle, the famed big top owner who brought the Moscow State Circus to perform in the UK.

He also co-founded the Gothic inspired Circus of Horrors show.

"My mum and dad were in Glasgow at the time, so I was born in Paisley.

"Three days afterwards we were back in the caravan and going on the road again - so it’s been my whole life.

"I used to come in and out of the dance acts when I was tiny, and I was three when I first performed in Scotland."

Since then Maddie has learned all sorts of skills.

Around the age of six she started being trained to perform anything from magic tricks and hula hoops to a pyramid bike act - standing on the shoulders of others while someone else took care of the peddling.

"I'd go back to school and say what I'd done over my summer and everyone else had just been to Tenerife."

However her biggest passion was skating with her older sister, a skill she has now taken on as an adult, though at a faster pace than childhood.

Along with her partner Jamil, she performs "high-speed roller-skating" routines, spinning around on a platform together.

She says that performing is her "form of getting away".

"When I go on the stage I can forget about everything else.

"Me and my partner only learned in January and then started performing the routine in March, so it really was just a couple of months to work on it.

"I'll spin by my neck during it, we do somersaults, and things like that.

"We really have to trust each other but it's like anything else - when you get used to it and do all the training you feel on top of it.

"I really took to skating with my sister when I was young, so it felt right when I got the chance to do it again."

Maddie began performing in circuses as a toddler

She will be performing that dynamic routine during the circus's stay in Scotland, which is at Glasgow's Silverburn shopping centre until 28 July and then in Aberdeen until 18 August.

The schedule is relentless, with Circus Extreme usually touring from March through to November, followed by a Christmas season of performances and then two months off come the New Year.

During the winter Maddie sometimes works at the family's other business, the Wookey Hall Caves attraction in Somerset, where she lives.

However her thoughts are never far from the big top.

"I’m always thinking about getting back on the road with the circus," she adds.

"I get bored if I’m not travelling."

But her travelling still has her parents involved, with both mum and dad now working in behind the scenes roles.

This has advantages, but does mean they're Maddie's harshest critics sometimes.

"There’s no critic like your parents.

"They used to perform so they know what to look for, so I’ll come offstage and they’ll be like 'oh your leg is not very straight' and things like that.

"But it’s good to always have that constant reassurance and to have little critiques so you don’t get too comfortable.

"Plus it's nice when you can have a cup of tea with them after a show."