How to Plan a Weekend at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

Posted by Anonymous , 9/4/2007 Tags:PlanWeekendBelladrumTartanHeartFestival
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How to Plan a Weekend at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

Introduction

Taking place on a Friday and Saturday each year in early August, the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival is a family oriented, laid-back event that offers a range of entertainment suitable for all ages. Besides the line up of musical performances, the Tartan Heart festival features cabaret, dance and art performances, food markets, alternative therapies and even a masked ball!

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You'll Need

  • Tent
  • Sleeping bag
  • Camping mat or airbed
  • Wet weather clothing
  • Wellies or hiking boots
  • Suncream, sunglasses and hat
  • Tickets
  • Insect repellent
  • Torch
  • Toileteries and toilet paper

Steps

1

Step One

Book tickets for everyone in your party using an online ticket agent or by visiting one of the select record stores in cities around Scotland. Tickets cost around ?￡70 (plus a booking fee) for adults for the whole weekend, including the costs of camping and parking. Entry for children under 12 is free but they must be in possession of a child ticket and be accompanied by an adult.
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Step Two

Book a bus or train ticket for your journey to the Tartan Heart festival, which takes place in the Belladrum Estate just outside Inverness. Taking a dedicated coach service straight to the site is probably the easiest way to get there, and these are run by Scottish bus company Citilink from all major cities in the country. If youa??re arriving by train, you need to get a ticket to Inverness and then change services to travel onto Beauly, which is about two miles from the festival site.
3

Step Three

Go green by signing up to the carpooling scheme operated for the festival by the organisation Liftshare (see Resources below). They match drivers and passengers wishing to get to the festival from the same area who can share cars and the cost of driving and petrol.
4

Step Four

Set up camp in the festivala??s campsite from 4 pm on Thursday. Weekend ticket holders are allowed to camp from Thursday evening to Sunday morning inclusive and there is a family campsite that is reserved solely for adults camping with children. There are a number of nearby hostels and B&Bs though if you dona??t feel like roughing it!
5

Step Five

Sleep in style at the Belladrum festival by reserving a six man Tipi. The Tipis are in their own fenced and staffed area with their own toilets and a??chill out zone,a?? and come ready built with six airbeds, carpet and a stove. Tipis cost about ?￡500 for six people for the three daysa??but hurry, they get booked up very quickly!
6

Step Six

Pick up supplies or anything youa??ve forgotten from one of the camping equipment stalls around the festival site. There will also be plenty of different food and drink stalls operating during the three days.
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Step Seven

Head to the main stage on Friday and Saturday afternoons for a full schedule of music from big names to lesser known up and coming acts from a variety of genres. The BBC Radio Scotland & HAIL Seedlings Stage also offers a line up of unsigned bands and artists performing through the weekend.
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Step Eight

Dona??t forget to enjoy the rest of the entertainmenta??the Belladrum festival is about so much more than music! Proceedings begin with a Crack It Open Ceilidh on Thursday night and ends with a Masked Ball on Saturday night, with poetry and comedy performances and an organic market taking place in between. Therea??s also the Venus Flytrap Palais stagea??s weird and wonderful cabaret and performance art shows and alternative therapies.

Tips & Warnings

  • Take some ID. Bar staff will ask to see it before they can sell you alcohol if you look younger than 18 years old.
  • Help keep the festival site a cleaner, nicer place by remembering to put all your rubbish in the many bins provided. Therea??s even recycling points dotted around where you can put cans, glass and paper waste.
  • Take a fancy dress outfit to wear to the Masked Ball on Saturday night after the music performances finish.
  • Dona??t lose your ticket! If you lose it, the festival organisers will not replace it so keep it in a very, very safe place. Once you swap your ticket for a wristband, look after this too. If it looks damaged or tampered with in any way, you may be refused entry at the gate.
  • As with all festivals, take as few valuables with you as possible and carry them with you at all times. There is no way to completely secure a tent.
  • No glass, fireworks, animals or illegal drugs will be allowed into the festival and you should expect your bag to be searched before entry.
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