When is this event?
The 2025 theme is: Highland Games
Categories:
Cut Flowers: From your garden or picked while out walking. Any size,
Colour, or variety. Display in a vessel of your choice (vases, teapots, baskets,
jars, milk bottles etc).
Floral Art Displays: Express your artistic vision by creating a floral
masterpiece that represents the Highland Games.
Plants in Pots/Planters/Hanging Baskets: Pot plants, planters or hanging
baskets.
Fruit & Vegetables: Show off your home-grown delights, perfect or wonky.
Any variety, large or small, in baskets, boxes, or on their own. just ensure
they are home-grown and clean.
Crafts (Needlework and Handiwork): Anything you have created, or made
jointly as a group. Knitting, crochet, paintings, models, painted stones etc.
Home Produce: Jams, chutneys, wine, honey, home bakes. Anything
homemade. Produce will be judged at the start of the festival.
Children’s Competition: Let your creativity bloom! Create and submit your
own model inspired by the Highland Games.
These categories will be judged by the public (excluding Home Produce which will be judged by nominated individual). The winner of each category will receive a £20 cash prize.
Special features:
Floral Art Group Display: stunning Highland Games showcase exhibited down the middle of the hall.
Children’s Craft Groups: Held during the holidays to encourage children’s participation.
Photographic Slideshow: showcasing photos of the local area based on our festival theme you would
If you would like to participate, please send your photos to ballaterhorticulturalsoc@outlook.com. Selected photos will be featured in a slideshow that will be displayed throughout the festival weekend.
Open to Everyone!
Free entry in as many categories as you wish.
Fun for all ages.
For more details and to contact us visit our Facebook page
Facebook.com/ballaterroyalhorticulturalsociety
Exhibits can be dropped off at the Victoria Hall on
Friday August 15th from 5-8pm and Saturday 16th from 8-9:30am
Sunday 17th: Voting closes 2 PM, Winners announced 3 PM, Raffle drawn 3:30 PM
We look forward to seeing you this summer at the Victoria Hall.
Join us for the fun of it!
Don’t miss this incredible family-friendly event on Saturday August 2rd 2025. Join us and enjoy the spectacle of the kilted ‘Heavies’ and get goosebumps courtesy of the massed pipe bands echoing out across the games field. The Highland dancers will be up on stage to entertain us too, and your kids can join in with any number of track events – or maybe you fancy the Haggis eating competition!?
There’s a variety of stalls, family-friendly rides and games, our iconic Hill run up Creag Dhubh, and the annual Macpherson Rally with all of its colour and traditions. Burger-vans, ice-creams and other refreshments including the beer tent will be available as well as lots of stalls to browse.
Adding further colour and ceremony to the Games is the Clan Macpherson Annual Gathering; clansfolk from around the world join in this grand tradition,
Events start on the Eilan (free parking) from 11am onwards, and you can watch the pipe bands march through the village to the Games field from 1pm.
New for 2025, the over 40s six-aside shinty tournament, and we’re so excited that Newtonmore Camanachd club are bringing this thrilling spectator sport to the event.
See social media posts for more details as we get closer to the date.
We invite you to join us for a celebration of Ballindalloch Distillery, Whisky and Estate, an unmissable afternoon of Whisky, food, music and fun. Think Festival within a Festival!
Your ticket includes use of a free shuttle bus service running from Elgin, Rothes, Craigellachie and Aberlour for those who want to fully enjoy everything we have to offer at our Ballindalloch Estate BBQ.
Come and explore our beautiful Single Estate Distillery and discover what makes us unique in Speyside: our traditional manual production process and the circular economy within the Estate of our natural resources and by-products. From the very outset, the production of our Whisky was always destined to be “hands on”. With a clear commitment to tradition, the Single Estate nature of our process allows us to control every aspect of Whisky making. From the barley we grow at our Home Farm to the draff fed back to cattle across the Estate, we craft our Whisky in a way that generations past would have recognised.
Your ticket includes access to the Distillery production area, where you can discuss Whisky making with our highly skilled production team. You will be joining us for an afternoon of Ballindalloch Single Malt Whisky drams, food from our Ballindalloch BBQ featuring Aberdeen Angus meat, the breed closely associated with Ballindalloch (a delicious vegan option will be available too), all catered by Calum’s Kitchen.
As a family owned and working estate, the Macpherson-Grants invite you to experience many aspects of estate life through various fun activities. We will have archery, golf challenges, and live music. Also, as Chieftain of the Aberlour Highland Games, current Laird, Guy Macpherson-Grant is looking forward to watching you join in some caber tossing and other Games sports. With so much to see & do, we guarantee you a great afternoon at Ballindalloch.
You can use your ticket to secure a discount in our shop, with the opportunity to purchase our exclusive Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival bottling!
The Atholl Gathering and Highland Games will return to Blair Castle on Sunday 25th May 2025 and tickets available to purchase online.
The Atholl Highlanders officially open the Highland Games with a ‘March On’, led by the sound of their pipes and drums.
Strongmen from around Scotland take centre stage to battle it out. Events include tossing the caber, putting the shot and throwing the hammer. There are plenty of other attractions, such as highland dancing, tug o’ war, solo piping, trade stands and refreshments to provide a fun day out for all the family.
Full event details will be released soon.
The Clan Grant Society UK is hosting an International Gathering in Strathspey on Sunday 3 August – Sunday 10 August 2025. It is an opportunity for Clan Grant to welcome Grants from all over the world, rekindle the strong bonds of kinship and to re-connect with old friends.
It is very much an inclusive event and we hope that people with just an interest in the clan and its heritage will also engage and join us.
For those attending the week long Gathering there will be visits to places in Strathspey connected to the Clan as well as talks and social events. The Gathering will culminate at Abernethy Games on Saturday 9th August with the Clan March and meet up at the Clan tent.
In the evening, the Clan Dinner and Ceilidh will be held in Grantown-on-Spey. Please click on this link to the draft Programme for the International Gathering.
For almost 200 years, the Braemar Gathering has been a highlight of the sporting calendar in Scotland. Nestled beneath bucolic, heather-strewn mountains, it is the most prominent and well-attended Highland games in the world, drawing vast crowds from across the globe.
Held at The Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park each September in the beautiful Cairngorms village of Braemar, it is the proud continuation of an ancient tradition of Gatherings here — one that can be traced back to the time of King Malcolm Canmore, over 900 years ago.
The Gathering has been run in its present form since 1832. Queen Victoria attended in 1848, and since then it has been regularly attended by the reigning Monarch and members of the British Royal Family.
We invite you to join us for a celebration of Ballindalloch Distillery, Whisky and Estate, an unmissable afternoon of whisky, food, music and fun.
Come and explore our beautiful Single Estate Distillery and discover what makes us unique in Speyside: our traditional manual production process and the circular economy within the Estate of our natural resources and by-products. From the very outset, the production of our Whisky was always destined to be “hands on”. With a clear commitment to tradition, the Single Estate nature of our process allows us to control every aspect of Whisky making. From the barley we grow at our Home Farm to the draff fed back to cattle across the Estate, we craft our Whisky in a way that generations past would have recognised.
Your ticket includes access to the Distillery production and operational areas. You will be joining us for an afternoon of Ballindalloch Single Malt Whisky drams, food from our Ballindalloch BBQ featuring Aberdeen Angus meat, the breed closely associated with Ballindalloch (a delicious vegan option will be available too) and tasty home-bakes from Lagmore Café.
As a family owned and working estate, the Macpherson-Grants invite you to experience many aspects of estate life through various fun activities. We will have archery, fly-fishing demonstrations (and for you to try), golf challenges, live music, and much more. Also, as Chieftain of the Aberlour Highland Games, current Laird, Guy Macpherson-Grant is looking forward to watching you join in some caber tossing and other Games sports. With so much to see & do, we guarantee you a great afternoon at Ballindalloch.
The Newtonmore Games have always been based on tradition and 2024 will be no different.
We have for your entertainment at least four Pipe Bands taking part in a spectacular festival of colour and sound.
As usual we have the spectacular sights of the Clan Macpherson Annual Rally and March to the Games. We expect to welcome many clansmen from all parts of the globe.
A great crowd pleaser as always are the heavy events which consist of many varied disciplines of strength and skill.
The highland dancing is another very popular attraction as the dancers perform their intricate moves to the sound of the pipes.Dancers from all over the world are competing this year.
You will find at the top end of the field the lone pipers competing in the Pibroch and Strathspey and Reel all hoping to please the judges.
Also on display are the athletes, young and old running sprints and middle distance races. The kids events are not to be missed.
On the athletics front,the Creag Dhubh hill race is a must to watch with runners competing from all over the country.
The 2024 Newtonmore Highland Games are a fantastic day out for all the family.
Checkout our Video of Highlights of Newtonmore Games
The Ballater Highland Games are held annually on the second Thursday in August in Monaltrie Park, Ballater and in 2024 the Games will be held on Thursday 8th August.
There have been Games held in Ballater since 1864 and, apart from the war and pandemic years, the Games have continued uninterrupted until the present day. The Games have been honoured in recent times by visits from Their Majesties the King and Queen, The former, Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
Many famous athletes and champions have competed at Ballater. Today the events form part of the circuits comprising the Glenfiddich Heavy Events Championship and the Grampian Games Qualifying Championship, which encourages the younger athletes to participate in the heavy and field events.
Ballater Highland Games prides itself in having something for everyone, young and old alike. On Games Day there are a number of varied trade stands, together with a funfair for the children. On occasion, personalities are to be seen, and one memorable day a military 25 pounder was fired to signal the start of the Hill Race.
Every August, on the fourth Saturday, all roads lead to Lonach.
Travel along them to Strathdon and enjoy a day that will linger long in the memory.
A warm welcome awaits at the friendly gathering.
Where is this event being held?
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