Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Celebrate Amber delights

Dougie Maclean wrote the haunting song "Caledonia". Photo: Rob McDougall
Dougie Maclean wrote the haunting song "Caledonia". Photo: Rob McDougall

Tens of thousands of people are expected to head for Perthshire over the next 10 days to experience Dougie MacLean’s autumnal celebration of music, Perthshire Amber. Starting today, October 30, and running until Sunday, November 8, Scotland’s most original acoustic music festival returns with a stellar line-up.

Headliners include “home-grown” talent Dallahan, Emily Smith, Rura, Ross Ainslie, Blazin’ Fiddles, Karine Polwart, Benny Gallagher and The Wrigley Sisters, all playing alongside Dougie MacLean, festival founder and the singer songwriter who gave us Scotland’s anthem Caledonia.

The festival’s home base is the picturesque village of Dunkeld, which looks stunning at this time of year thanks to the wonderful autumnal colours. Some 25 venues throughout the region, including historic castles, the stunning Dunkeld Cathedral, cosy village halls, the ancient Iron Age Crannog on Loch Tay and the prestigious Perth Concert Hall will be used during the festival, including new venue The Byre, at Inchyra, which dates from 1877 and is formerly home to the cattle from the Inchyra Estate.

Mae Trio
Mae Trio

The festival has always had a strong representation of “rest of the UK” and international talent and this year is no different. Bella Hardy, Elliott Morris and Jess Morgan, hailing from different parts of England, The Mae Trio from Australia, Jessie Will from New Zealand and Stanley Samuelsen, from Faroe, will all travel to Scotland for the festival, and there will be the welcome return of Buddy MacDonald, from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Dougie said: “The trees are just starting to turn golden; it is the best time of year to visit the wonderful region I call home. I am especially excited about performing my Caledonia Cantata on Friday, November 6. It’s going to be a great night, with so many fantastically talented musicians joining me on stage. I think it’s going to be a really special one.”

In addition to the fantastic feature concerts, the fringe programme, Amber Discoveries, will continue to support and promote new music and up-and-coming talent through the Open Mic afternoons and early evening Cabaret Amber, which are both free admission. The ever-popular Decorated Wheelbarrow Procession will return to the
streets of Dunkeld to mark the first Sunday of the festival, processing to the historic Stanley Hill for an afternoon of music at the Amber Autumn Picnic, celebrating Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink.

As usual, throughout the 10 days, there will be guided walks, talks and demonstrations. Highlights include The Tattie Talk with John Marshall this Saturday, October 31. This is a fast-moving photo talk with stories of John Marshall’s “travels with potatoes” across the globe. He was brought up on a Perthshire Farm near Dunning in the 1950s early 60s, enjoying the country life of the time, and has spent his entire working life in the potato industry.

On Saturday, November 7, at 11.15am, there’s a Wicked Chocolate Workshop, with Elaine Forrest. This is a chocolate event at which the history, growing and manufacture of chocolate will be discussed in a lighthearted way. There will be many samples to taste and chocolate to take home, courtesy of Perthshire’s own Wicked Chocolate, which specialises in creating delicious chocolate drawn from sources around the world.
Contact: www.perthshireamber.com or call 01350 724 281