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.

Who knew Moray had a connection with Shakespeare?

George and Karen Sutherland on Macbeth's Hillock near Brodie.
George and Karen Sutherland on Macbeth's Hillock near Brodie.

Ambitious plans have been unveiled to lure visitors to Moray by cashing-in on the region’s links to one of Shakespeare’s most notorious characters.

Holiday chalets could be built beside Macbeth’s Hillock near Brodie to transform it into a destination for fans of the Bard.

Local couple Karen and George Sutherland believe the small mound is currently “underwhelming” for visitors and want to put it on the map.

In William Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play” the hill near the A96 Elgin-Inverness road is where Macbeth meets the three witches who predict his rise to become king.

There has been a surge in interest in the story since the release of a Hollywood version of the play last summer.

The Moray Speyside Tourism group credited the Michael Fassbender film with increasing visitor interest the Forres area by 135%.

There are signposts directing tourists on the trail of Macbeth towards the hillock but Mrs Sutherland said: “We get a lot of people stopping us and asking where it is.

“They’ve followed the signposts but there’s no signage there. It’s just an unloved corner of a field.

“There’s a huge potential in Moray to promote Macbeth. We want to be part of that and help promote our little bit of it.

The heath and surrounding land have been in the bookkeeper’s family for nearly a century.

Mrs Sutherland and her husband have lodged plans with Moray Council to site five “camping pods” at the foot of the mound.

Inside each tree-trunk clad chalet would be a small kitchen, bathroom and shower and dining area, and space to sleep four.

Specialists have designed the pods to resemble 17th century houses with long sloping roofs.

A small car park and wooden boundary fences have also been included in the plans.

Yesterday Laurie Piper, tourism operations manager at Moray Speyside Tourism, said: “The proposed development first well with the aspirations of the Forres area tourism initiative, which identified Macbeth as one of Moray’s cultural assets.

“The release of the new Hollywood adaptation last year saw us working with VisitScotland to promote Moray as the home of the real Macbeth to a global audience.”

Despite its unassuming appearance in modern times, visitors have been drawn to the hillock for centuries.

Travelling diarists James Boswell and Dr Samuel Johnson visited the knoll while on their tour of Scotland in 1773.

The writers recited “grand” Shakespearean lines from the play as they made their approach before parodying the witches themselves.