you don't get much more Scottish than Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

Belladrum - or the Tartan Heart festival - takes place on an estate in the Highlands of Scotland near Beauly on the outskirts of Inverness.

Billed as "homegrown in the Highlands", this Scottish festival is now in its 12th year, and continues to grow and develop. It hasn't yet lost its magic or appeal and once again sold out months in advance.

And there was a real buzz about the festival this year, with the addition of no less than the mighty Proclaimers as headliners on the Thursday night meaning that Bella was now a three day event. While many Bella regulars have been heading up for the Thursday night for years, keen to get the weekend's party going with the traditional ceilidh in the Grassroots tent, the mass appeal of The Proclaimers meant that most of the 16,000 ticket holders seemed to arrive on Thursday, along with additional Thursday night only ticket holders.

This, coupled with a number of other big events taking place in the Highland capital that weekend, including the World Orienteering Championships and the Black Isle Show, meant that there were huge volumes of traffic on the roads in the area on Thursday, resulting in long delays for many. We queued for around three miles just after lunchtime, taking about an hour to travel the short distance from Inverness.

And although getting into the site itself was a pretty smooth process, thanks to the very organised stewards, collecting wristbands proved to be a further stress for many, with long queues of up to an hour again at the box offices and some of the box offices running out of kids wristbands.

All this was forgotten by the time people got into the festival site however and had enjoyed a few Black Isle Brewery beers or Tomatin whiskies while watching the always brilliant The Rogues, as well as The Correspondents, andScooty And The Skyhooks. After a summer of rain, the sun was shining, mainly, and everyone was up for having a damn fine time.

And the choice of The Proclaimers as the first band to play on the Garden Stage was nothing short of genius, appealing as they do to people of all ages - every child who has grown up with Shrek, everyone who has been moved by the Sunshine on Leith stage show, and everyone of a certain age (my age) who remembers them throwing the R away on The Tube in the 80s. They are a great family band and a great fit with the family spirit of this festival.

So after a relatively quiet start to Thursday night at the Garden Stage in terms of audience numbers at least, by the time the Proclaimers were due to take to the stage, the natural amphitheatre was rammed, the crowd singing along from the start, opening numbers Over and Done With, Letter from America and Should Have Been Loved setting the pace for the rest of the set.

It is ten years since Scotland's most famous twins last played Belladrum, and this year's appearance coincided with the release of their tenth album, Let's Hear It For The Dogs. Tracks from the new album showcased at Bella included You Built Me Up, Forever Young and Scotland Forever, all holding up against classics such as Let's Get Married, Make My Heart Fly, Cap In Hand, Misty Blue and of course the always beautiful Sunshine On Leith.

Life With You, I'm On My Way, Then I Met You, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - dedicated to Archie's Angels who had walked 12 kilometres to the festival to raise money for the Archie Foundation's Highland appeal for a new children's unit in Inverness' Raigmore Hospital - and Kilmarnock City Blues brought the first ever Thursday night Garden Stage show to a suitably rousing close before the happy hordes headed off to the Grassroots Stage for an hour and a half of ceilidh fun with Rhythm 'N Reel.

Despite the celebrations of the night before, it was still an early-ish start for many on Friday. We headed into the festival site just after noon and it was already busy, particularly in the kids area.

Drop and Roll could be the new rock and roll if the crowds at stunt rider Danny MacKaskill's show are anything to go by. The internet sensation from Skye, alongside local lad Duncan Shaw and Ally C, packed in the crowds throughout the weekend with lots of kids - mine included - turning up for each of the six shows.

A huge hit at last year's festival, the street trials boys - and the crowds - were back for more of the same. The team performed their gravity-defying stunts to a massive soundtrack including the likes of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, cheered on by some of the loudest audiences of the festival, who were in turn led by Harry, a sort of Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale cheerleader. It was great entertainment and the queues to meet the stunt superheroes were halfway round their by no means small arena.

Just across from the Drop and Roll show was the Potting Shed, which featured two stages and non-stop entertainment throughout the day again this year.

Perthshire band The Carloways are a young band with a big sound. Fresh from their appearance at the Southern Fried Festival the previous weekend, the youngsters gave a polished performance on the Potting Shed stage, with Breaking Away and a cover of (I can't get no) Satisfaction favourites with those gathered. They also played the Inchyra Arts Club Festival in a Gazebo on Saturday, or at least, most of them did, one of them not quite able to make it after the party the night before.

Also from Perthshire, and also following on from playing Southern Fried in the Fair City, The New Madrids had a great show on the Grassroots Stage on Friday and again also performed at the Inchyra Arts Club Festival in a Gazebo.

Down on the main stage, it was time for Hayseed Dixie, and a welcome return to the Highlands for the rockgrass pioneers who I first saw nearly ten years ago at the Loopallu festival in Ullapool.

Starting as they meant to go on, they opened their set of an explosive fusion of hard rock and bluegrass with You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC. In a frenetic and entertaining show, they covered War, Eye of the Tiger, Don't Stop Believing and Ace of Spades in their own inimitable style, drinking "cheap Prosecco" all the while.

The band, who were wearing dungarees long before it became fashionable again recently, pointed out to the audience that "shaggy hipster beards are the mullet of your day" and praised the NHS, warning the crowd "you don't know what you've got until it's gone".

Introducing their version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody as the "greatest song about killing ever written", adding "if you don't agree you're wrong", this set provided a 50 minute introduction to the Hayseed Dixie way of life, which included snapshots of Freebird and The Beatles' Michelle, as well as the banjo duel from Deliverance and the almost obligatory Highway to Hell.

In a complete change of approach and pace, up next on the Garden Stage was Stornoway, who aren't from Scotland at all but from Oxford. This earnest and unassuming looking band with folk tendencies have just released a critically acclaimed EP, Bonxie, and describe themselves as purveying "alternative faux pop". Singer and guitarist Brian Briggs has a beautiful voice as evidenced in When You're Feeling Gentle and Fuel Up.

We headed back up to the Grassroots stage to catch Dizraeli and the Small Gods in what was to be their last ever Scottish festival performance together before splitting up after six years to pursue different musical interests. The six-piece outfit features award-winning rapper and multi-instrumentalist Dizraeli and female beatbox champion Bellatrix and I really enjoyed their set; kinda gutted I discovered them too late.

After feeding the kids, it was time to head back to the main stage for Friday headliners and Welsh rock legends, the Manic Street Preachers. I have a little bit of a soft spot for the Manics, just because they are from Wales and because they wrote Motorcycle Emptiness, and was keen to see them after having had to listen to them from the camp site at RockNess a few years ago when my kids were much younger and needed to go to bed earlier.

They opened their set at Bella - their only Scottish festival performance this year and their first time at Tartan Heart - with Motorcycle Emptiness, a critique of the shallowness of consumerism that resonates as much today as it did back in 1992.

Walk Me To The Bridge from their latest album Futurology, 2007's Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, Jackie Collins Existential Question Time and From Despair to Where were all on the set list with the band paying tribute to Richey Edwards, commenting that his "beautiful words live on through these songs".

James Dean Bradfield's voice was as powerful as ever and his guitar work note perfect as they fired through You Stole The Sun From My Heart, Suicide is Painless, If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next and Everything Must Go. Bassist Nicky Wire threw a fair number of shapes and high kicks, and Bradfield described him and drummer Sean Moore as "greatest rhythm section to come out of Wales" as they brought their set to an end with You Love Us and the anthemic Design For Life.

The Garden Stage may have closed for the evening but the party continued for many, at the bars, at Mother's Ruin, at the Jock N Roller Ice Disco, the Grassroots tent which was stowed out with those enjoying a Dolly Parton tribute act, and the Venus Fly Trap tent where we caught a bit of an excellent covers band belting out some popular rock classics. Numerous parties also continued well into the wee small hours at the various camp sites too as people caught up with old mates and forged new friendships.

It was a dry if blustery start to Saturday, with Bella-goers enjoying what has probably been the driest few days of the whole of the summer in Scotland this year, although the early afternoon sunshine did give way to a few showers later in the day. Thankfully however, the somewhat foreboding looking clouds didn't materialise as much.

Belladrum regulars and local Inverness band Dorec-a-Belle opened the main stage on Saturday, graduating from their stints on the Free Range, Potting Shed and Grassroots stages in previous years. The Herald's Unsigned Band of the Year for 2013 was promoting their album Listen, and although there were a few sound issues at the start they got into their stride and finished their set with the title track from the album. There was a good turnout at the Garden Stage for Dorec-a-belle, with those who made the effort to see them rewarded with beautiful harmonies and wonderful voices - a lovely way to ease into the day.

Saturday was to be a full-on day of diverse musical styles and hugely talented musicians. From the acoustic indie folk pop sounds of Dorec-a-belle it was up to the Hothouse Stage for the hip hop toons of Hector Bizerk in what was the first of two Scottish festival appearances that day for the band that has been described as "one of the most original acts of the past few decades."

There was another good turnout despite the relatively early hour with the Hothouse tent pretty full and Glasgow-based Hector Bizerk gave a storming performance from the off, the crowd getting in to the groove singing along on Welcome to Nowhere and Columbus. It was a typically intense experience from this hotly tipped band, which was further intensified by the band's encounter with the police the previous night - their cover of KRS One's Sound of Da Police really came from the heart.

The set, throughout which artist Pearl Kinnear painted a canvas on stage, finished with Rust Cohle - a song inspired by Matthew McConnaughey's character in True Detective - and The Bigger Picture with the crowd well and truly woken up by then, literally and metaphorically.

Back on the main stage and The Dangleberries were doing what they do best in their usual style, entertaining the crowds with their fusion of modern pop classics, traditional instruments and good old sing-along rock 'n' roll. I Gotta Feelin', Sweet Child O' Mine, Rise Up and Loch Lomond worked their magic on the Saturday lunchtime audience, and showed why the Galloway pipe rock sensation are invited back to this happy-go-lucky festival year after year.

The Saturday afternoon ska slot was this year filled by Aberdeen skanksters aka-SKA who in turn filled the Hothouse tent. The nine-piece band described themselves as a "jukebox of ska songs" and didn't disappoint, blasting out Madness, UB40 and The Specials - among others - to a delighted crowd, many of whom had made the journey across from Aberdeen to see their favourite two-tone stars.

RuRa were up next on the Grassroots stage, fresh from performances at the Cambridge Folk Festival at the start of the month and pretty much straight off the plane from Stockholm after a folk festival appearance there that finished just hours before they took to the stage at Bella.

The band, which has just released its second album, Despite the Dark, is one of the hottest names on the Scottish trad scene at the moment and played a stormer of a set - a mixture of brilliant instrumental pieces such as The Lasher, and songs with vocals by Adam Holmes from Edinburgh-based band Adam Holmes and the Embers, whose amazing, deep, soft, soulful voice brings a different element to the band. It is great to see the resurgence in the Scottish trad scene continue with talented young bands like this and even younger enthusiastic fans in the audience enjoying every moment.
Speaking of young, Honeyblood cannae be that old. The Glasgow duo peddle a sort of scuzzy indie pop, making a massive sound with just a guitar, a drum kit and their voices. Fresh from a performance at the Gentlemen of the Road curated festival in Aviemore last weekend, the girls belted out an impressive set, including new single Love is a Disease.

From a fledging band with just a few years under their musical belts to The Stranglers who celebrated forty years in the business last year. The legendary band, founded by drummer Jet Black in 1974, are still going strong, touring regularly and recording new material, but it was old favourites such as Golden Brown, Always the Sun, Walk On By, Duchess, Peaches and JJB's bass-thumping - literally - No More Heroes that were the big crowd pleasers, getting everyone jumping and rocking out.

There was a lot of rocking out in the Grassroots tent as well for The John Langan Band. I caught this band at Audio Soup last month and knew they were too good to miss - even for the Stranglers. The dynamic three-piece have a Celtic, Gypsy, Roma and Flamenco inspired sound and the three of them bang out massive, infectiously rocking, hi-energy performances making them a compelling live band.

In another blistering 45 minutes of technically brilliant and foot-stomping awesomeness featuring the likes of Old Tom's Waltz, Amarasi Amari - about a gypsy who fell in love with his daughter-in-law - and the fifteen-minute long Demented Set, the trio certainly impressed the Bella crowd. So much so that more than one seasoned festie-goer said to me afterwards that the Glasgow-based musical travellers were the best band of the weekend, backing up their comments by buying the band's CD, I'm Alive.

Over on the Hothouse Stage were American rockers Rival Sons. Lead vocalist Jay Buchanan is another frontman with an amazing voice, similar in style to Ian Gillan or Robert Plant, with a fantastic range and striking blues influence. There was some pretty impressive facial hair on display from the band too, most notably from guitarist Scott Holliday and Todd Ogren-Brooks on keyboards. I kinda loved their down 'n' dirty rock 'n' roll and their energy, and there were definite echoes of The Temperance Movement, who had this slot last year.

Back to the main stage though and completing the triumvirate of big name headliners at Bella this year was the Kaiser Chiefs on the Saturday night, riding high on a resurgence of popularity, possibly due in part to frontman Ricky Wilson's stint on television show The Voice.

Whatever the reason for the resurgence, Wilson is a brilliant frontman, delighting the crowd with his antics from the off, and venturing out into the audience early on in their set during Everything Is Average. His always entertaining and energetic antics had the audience eating out of his hands - and the BBC cameras too as he led them around the stage, hanging his tambourine off 'em and pointing them at the crowd.

"Don't keep them waiting!" he implored the rest of the band, adding "Keep 'em rocking!" before diving into Ruffian Parade. The man who said that he hated to think an audience would ever be disappointed by a Kaiser Chief's performance gave it his all, jumping around the stage and singing from the top of amps and the drum kit. Which then had to be fixed.

Modern Way, Ruby, Every Day I Love You Less and Less, Angry Mob, Falling Awake, I Predict A Riot, Never Miss A Beat - there isn't a slow song in this band's set list, which this weekend also included a cover of Pinball Wizard and culminated in an explosion of ticker tape followed by the always spectacular Bella fireworks and the Torridon-led sing-along of Loch Lomond and Flower of Scotland.

So that was it over for another year. Thirteen stages, hundreds of bands, thousands of happy campers and music fans, gallons of beer, tonnes of food (probably, just guessing that bit), dozens of hay bales, probably several miles of walking, surprisingly few ponchos and gazillions of brilliant new memories.

Once again, there was so much going on at Bella that it was impossible to take it all in, even in three days. From the chilled out vibes of the Walled Garden - which this year seemed to have an usually large Viking population - and the return of the fantastical Burke and Hair and the Tig Na Og kids area, from the Verb Garden to the wrestling and the Venus Fly Trap stage, from art installations, fire dancing from PyroCeltica and the hypnotic groove of Mother's Ruin to just sitting soaking up the atmosphere and catching up with old friends and new, it is a full on weekend that could easily be a week long event and you still wouldn't be able to experience everything on offer.

As well as the addition of a third night of headline acts, there were a number of other new initiatives at Bella this year, not least of which was the 'zero waste to landfill' aspiration, which appealed to me and many other keen recyclers who have for years been taking our recycling, rubbish and composting home with us. Easy if you have a van I know, you'll be less popular taking your compost home on the bus or the train...

The variety of music at Bella was as eclectic as ever, I love the fact that you can go from seeing hip hop with Hector Bizerk or Dizraeli and the Small Gods to seeing trad or folk with Eddi Reader in her first ever appearance at Bella - or Manran. From ska to gypsy, James Brown to Dolly Parton, Bella has it all, if only you have the time.

However, all that choice means that sometimes decisions have to be made, some of which are harder than others. I was disappointed not to see New Model Army, or Grousebeater Sound System or the Tijuana Bibles (again) or Blackbeard's Tea Party, and to have to leave the Stranglers early to catch The John Langan Band but there just aren't enough hours in the Bella day.

Good food has always been a Bella mainstay and this year organisers upped the ante even further with the addition of a Claire MacDonald from the Three Chimney's restaurant in Skye pop-up eatery in the new Heilan Coo VIP section as part of the Year of Food and Drink - a year long celebration of Scotland's larder.

For those of us who hadn't been organised enough - or weren't paid in time - to book our breakfast or tea at the restaurant in advance, there was still the usual fayre of fine food available, the Food From Argyll and the Beat-Root Cafe particular favourites of mine. One of my kids spent most of the weekend living off venison burgers and fresh strawberries and marshmallows while my other son ate around seven stonebaked mushroom pizzas that even managed to persuade me that pizzas weren't the work of the doughball devil. And yet despite all the variety on offer - crocodile burgers anyone? Hmmn, no, didn't think so - the queue for the fish and chip van was still the biggest of the weekend.

Despite the increase in size and numbers this year, organisation of the event was generally good and coped in the main with the larger numbers, although the site is certainly busier that it was even just a few years ago and there are some bottlenecks. A number of information sheets were emailed out to festie goers ahead of the event, including information on bringing children to the festival and information for campervan and caravanners, for example, which undoubtedly would have helped with the smooth running of the festival.

But as ever, it is the people that make Belladrum and this year was no exception. Maybe because it is a primarily a family friendly festival it still has a lovely vibe and a real family feel to it. My kids, who have been coming here most of their lives, are able to have the freedom to see what they want to see if they want to (within reason, like checking in every hour or so but they usually come back wanting money anyway) and are familiar with the set-up and with the many, many lovely people that we meet here year after year. It is great to see a whole new generation of music fans growing up with the festival, as well as more and more getting on the Bella community bandwagon.

And as the Kaiser Chief's Ricky Wilson told the Garden Stage crowd on Saturday night, Scottish audiences are the best in the world, adding: "You know when you are in Scotland...and you don't get more Scottish than this."

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