Bella’s Buzz – October Edition
Hello lovely Belladrum family,
Welcome to the very first edition of Bella’s Buzz!
We thought it was about time we shared a little monthly catch-up from Team Bella - a chance to keep you in the loop, celebrate milestones and bring you along for the ride as we start shaping up another great year at Belladrum. Think of it as a friendly note from our team to you, with all the latest festival chatter and a peek behind the scenes.
Award Wins
First things first… we’ve got some wonderful news to share!
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival was recently announced as the winner of Outstanding Cultural Event or Festival at the Highlands and Islands Thistle Awards.
We’re absolutely over the moon and so proud of this recognition. The team here are ‘small but mighty’ and live and breathe Bella all year round, and this award is a lovely reminder of how special our festival is, not just to us, but to everyone who joins us each year.
The awards evening didn’t go entirely to plan (yes, there was a power cut!), but in true Highland fashion, nothing could dampen the spirits. Our friends at KBE came to the rescue with a generator, the wonderful Drumossie team handled everything with calm professionalism, and the celebrations carried on in full swing.
We couldn’t have asked for better hosts or company. A huge thanks to the organisers, the judges, and everyone who helped make it such a memorable night. We’re now looking forward to heading down to Glasgow for the regional finals in November (fingers crossed for Team Bella!).
Belladrum Festival Community Trust
Our new charity has launched!
Dougie and Naomi were also out for a visit to the Wild Gorse Café on Belladrum Estate recently to meet with the board members of the brand-new Belladrum Community Trust.
This exciting initiative will see £20,000 worth of funding made available to community groups, projects and individuals in the local area surrounding Belladrum, this has all made possible through car parking pass sales!
You can read more about it over on our latest blog, but in short, it’s another way of us being able to give back to the communities who are most impacted by Belladrum in terms of travel and footfall each year.
Applications for the first round grant funding are open now, and will close in December.
Spooky Season Inspiration
With autumn well and truly settling in and spooky season officially upon us, we’ve loved looking back at this year’s Bella Goes to the Moo-vies costumes, from superheroes to silver-screen icons, you certainly brought the Hollywood glamour and more.
For those who follow us on Facebook or Instagram, we’ve been dropping some of our favourite fancy dress efforts over the last couple of weeks for a bit of costume inspiration… oh, and you never know when the 2026 theme might drop.
2026 is in the works…
Back at HQ in Inverness, we’ve been keeping busy behind the scenes working on plans for Belladrum 2026. It might still feel like a long way off, but the ideas are already flowing, plans are falling into place and we can’t wait to share what’s in store when the time comes…
Our early bird tickets for 2026 sold out in quick time and we can’t thank you enough for the incredible support. It means the world to us that so many of you are already planning your return to Bella next summer. We’ll take this opportunity to remind everyone that we do have a payment plan running and if you purchase now, you can spread the cost across 9 months. Those who purchase next month will have 8 months, and so on.
Looking ahead
And finally, it wouldn’t be October without mentioning our annual Big Bella Hamper competition! Work on this year’s festive giveaway will soon be underway, and as always, the prize is shaping up to be a cracker. Keep an eye on our channels in the run-up to Christmas for your chance to win BIG. Last years prize included Family Camping tickets, VIP passes, Tickets for The Gathering Festival, Luxury Car Hire, Restaurant Vouchers and much more…
For now, that’s all from us - but rest assured, Team Bella is VERY busy behind the scenes dreaming up plans for the next festival and we can’t wait to share more updates in next month’s Bella’s Buzz.
With love,
Team Bella 💜