Belladrum: What to expect from festival's 21st year

Bedingfield has long blonde hair and is wearing glasses. She is wearing a white suit jacket. She has her head to one side and her eyes closed as she sings into a microphone.Getty Images

Natasha Bedingfield is among this year's headline acts at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

Steven McKenzie
BBC Scotland News

The 21st anniversary Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival takes place in the Highlands this weekend.

Over the years, it has grown from a small one-day event with tickets for just 2,000 people to three days of music and crowds of more than 20,000.

Artists including Paul Heaton, CMAT and Texas are among the acts lined up to perform at this year's festival, which runs from Thursday to Saturday.

What is Belladrum and where is it?

Capaldi, who is wearing a black t-shirt, is on a stage and has an arm raised and with his hand is pointing to something in the distance. He has a yellow acoustic guitar slung by a strap over his shoulders. There is a microphone stand next to him.Getty Images

Over the years acts have included Lewis Capaldi

The event was set up in 2004 by music fan Joe Gibbs, owner of the festival's venue - the 1,150-acre (465ha) Belladrum Estate.

The estate, which is about 12 miles west of Inverness, near the villages of Beauly and Kiltarlity, has been in Mr Gibbs' family since 1857.

In 2018 music promoter Kilimanjaro Live acquired the festival but it continues to be run by a Highlands-based team.

The festival-goers, a man and a woman who are dressed up as popular Scottish comic characters Oor Wullie and Minnie the Minx, are pictured outdoors in the festival's walled garden. The Oor Wullie costume includes a wig of yellow, spiky hair, white shirt and black dungarees. Minnie the Minx involves a black and red jumper, black beret and ginger wig with pig tails. The two people are smiling and wearing sun glasses.

Bella fans embraced 2023's theme of cartoons, including this Oor Wullie and Minnie the Minx

Since its inception, Lewis Capaldi, Frightened Rabbit, Bastille, Twin Atlantic, Paloma Faith, Callum Beattie and Sir Tom Jones have performed at the festival.

The event promotes itself as family-friendly, and every year it has a theme and festival-goers are invited to dress up accordingly.

In 2023, there was a hugely popular theme of cartoons. This year's is film.

Affectionately known as Bella, the festival has a number of stages, with the main stage in a natural bowl close to the general camping area.

There is also a small chapel on the estate where couples have tied the knot during the festival.

Who is playing at Belladrum 2025?

Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes is wearing a hat and singing into a microphone while playing a guitar on a stage. He is wearing a dark suit jacket. Getty Images

Supergrass are among this year's headliners

It is a long list, with more than 40 acts on Saturday alone and a mix of chart-topping household names, established Scottish acts and new talent.

Former Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton, pop singer Natasha Bedingfield and singer-songwriter Tom Walker are on the bill across the weekend.

Gok Wan - maybe best known for the TV show How To Look Good Naked - will perform a late-night DJ set.

Supergrass, whose hits in the 1990s and 2000s include Caught by the Fuzz, will be performing while Texas will close the festival.

Woman on stage, in front of a set of drums, carrying a microphone and wearing white-rimmed sunglasses. She is wearing a blue plastic-looking mini-dress and blue tights. She has her arms out-stretched and is smiling widely at the crowd.Getty Images

CMAT has been tipped as a future Glastonbury headliner

Other Scottish acts include Tide Lines, Torridon, Beluga Lagoon, Nati, and The Dazed Digital Age.

Meanwhile one of the most highly anticipated acts is Irish singer-songwriter CMAT, following a show-stopping performance at Glastonbury.

Former Doctor Who Peter Capaldi will also to make an appearance after returning to music after a break of 40 years.

What is the best way to travel to Belladrum?

A queue of cars and vans on a rural road near the Belladrum festival in 2023. There is a long, green hedge on one side of the road and large trees.

Traffic queued to get into the Belladrum site in 2023

This has been a contentious issue in the past with long queues affecting some festivals.

In 2023, when a record 25,000 tickets were sold, some people reported delays of five hours or more to get in. Organisers apologised.

Parking and entry arrangements were changed for last year's Bella and travel in and out of the site ran smoothly.

Shuttle buses will run between the festival and Inverness bus station, Drumnadrochit, Dingwall, Beauly and Tore. Timetables can be viewed and tickets booked here.

Car parking passes need to be booked in advance and organisers are encouraging festival-goers to car-share where possible.

A one-way system and a 5mph speed limit will be in operation throughout the estate.

Highland Council has published details on temporary traffic restrictions, including temporary 30 and 20mph speed limits.

And the Belladrum website has more information on travel, shuttle buses parking and the festival's campsites.

What's the weather forecast for Belladrum?

Footwear of Feeder band members Taka Hirose, left, and Grant Nicholas. Taka is wearing black shoes and Grant a pair of wellies. The musicians are sitting on a bale of straw and there is straw on the wooden-board floor below.

Wellies were sensible footwear back in 2017

The festival has frequently been blessed with fine weather - even to the extent it is an in-joke within Bella's management team.

But there was wet weather and muddy conditions under foot in 2017, and Feeder's frontman Grant Nicholas, pictured, turned up for an interview with BBC Scotland News in a sensible pair of wellies.

Forecasters are currently predicting some drizzle on Friday but Saturday will be a dry day with bright spells and temperatures of up to 19C.

The latest forecasts can be found on BBC Weather.

Is Belladrum on the TV?

BBC Alba will be providing live coverage and iPlayer broadcasts across the weekend.

The shows can be watched live or on demand from Thursday on Belladrum on BBC Alba.

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