the heart of Bella is truly the families it attracts

Saturday morning dawned and it looked as though everyone who had wished on that Celtic Wishing Tree for the sun to come out and the rain to go away and come back another day were about to feel the full magic force of Bella as their wishes came true.

We missed local girl Rachel Sermanni on the Grassroots stage but according to folk we spoke to she went down amazingly well and later appeared on the main stage too performing a duet with Tommy Reilly.

So first up for the day for us was Bombskare, who were on at a ridiculously early 1.35pm slot but still produced the set of the day for me. A Satellites cover, a storming cover of the James Bond theme tune, as well as a selection of their own ska-tastic tunes such as Beatriz combined with never less than enthusiastic performances always make for great show, and this was no exception, with kids and parents dancing away together.

The Potting Shed is always popular on sunny days and again this year was no exception with performers attracting pretty big audiences all day, encouraged to sit out in the sunshine soaking up the atmosphere and listening to beautiful toons.

Wolfstone was the next Garden Stage attraction for us for a bit of old school Celtic rock and then it was disco-tastic for me as I made the boys dance with me through another spectacular Candi Staton set. You can take the girl out of the Eighties…

Amy Macdonald had a difficult act to follow coming after Feeder's storming set the night before but her voice is pretty special and the Bella crowd is so good natured that the Scottish lassie was always gonna be fine. The weekend's main stage entertainment was rounded off with display planes flying in the shape of a heart and heart-shaped fireworks all to the sound of bagpipes, which always tugs on my tartan heart strings.

This independent festival has built a reputation for its eclectic line-ups, its offbeat non-musical entertainments and its all-ages approach and this year was absolutely no exception. The entertainment around the site seemed to have been stepped up a notch this year; my kids loved the firey flutey steel organ thing, I loved the good luck horses - even the one that tried to drink my hard-earned beer - there was the random girl in a wheelbarrow with a ridiculously tall bloke, the aerobatics by Chang Gang in the always beautiful Bella trees, the fact that the boys could disappear in nooks and crannies and trees and hammocks and still be safe.

The food at Belladrum is always awesome too. Over the weekend we had stovies, a melt in your mouth salmon bap with mayonnaise, organic beer, falafel and roast lamb rolls. It is always the best we ever eat at a festival and I swear I would go back to Bella every year just for the food - that food area absolutely puts every bad burger and jumbo sausage joint in the history of festival catering to shame and proves that there is no excuse for it. And in a nice twist, this year Highland Hog Roasts even had a special Kids Kitchen stand in the Tir Nan Og Kids Area, which seems like a genius idea to me.

For my part, I try to avoid the kiddies area – I dunno why but in my experience my boys are better behaved if I don't succumb to their demands to have their faces painted and I bribe them with the promise of glow-sticks and one ice cream per weekend instead. I also feel it is more important – particularly as they get a wee bit older – that they spent more time soaking up the music than anything else, especially when the weather is fine. From what I did see, the kids bit looked really good for those who use it – story telling and craft tents, the afore-mentioned and ubiquitous face-painting, the very welcome presence of the Highland Real Nappy Network (remember kids, not all nappies are rubbish or need to cost the earth - and the Tartan Heart real nappy is one of the cutest things I have ever seen - even cuter than the Bella hotpants on the official merch stall this year) and a retro ice-cream van.

I always come away from Bella feeling as though I have had my mind and heart opened a little further, and that there is always so much more we could have done and seen and experienced. It really isn't just about the music, the heart of this festival is truly the families it attracts and the friends you see there and the new ones you meet there. Home is definitely where the heart is.

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