New deal to make Cawdor Castle a top North music venue
The grounds of a 700 year old castle are set to echo to the music of leading bands and singers under a new deal which represents great news for North music fans.
Cawdor Castle, 12 miles east of Inverness, is to become an exciting new entertainment venue under an agreement between the castle owner and CK Events of Inverness, who are fast approaching a total sellout of their Rod Stewart concert at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium next July.
CK Events have signed a five year contract with Cawdor Castle Ltd to stage a series of concerts within the spacious grounds of the castle, historic home of the Thanes of Cawdor.
Local businessmen Les Kidger and Ken Cameron, partners in CK Events, are delighted to have booked exclusive use of the castle grounds for concerts through to the end of 2014.
"It's a spectacular venue, combining a historic atmosphere with a splendid setting and meeting technical requirements to be a thrilling outdoor entertainment hub", said Mr Kidger."It can accommodate concerts for up to 8000 spectators for all genres of music and we think that, once sampled, it will rapidly establish itself as a favourite place to go for fans of such events.
"We first visited the castle several months ago and Ken and I quickly came to the view that it would be a truly superb outdoor music location in beautiful surroundings. We have been in discussion with Cawdor Castle Ltd since and they have been excellent to deal with, while Lady Cawdor has been of particular assistance.
"The contract means this is our preferred venue for staging music shows which are capable of being accommodated here. We aim to be musical 'kings of the castle' and it's suitability makes it an asset which will be invaluable to music fans, for they will now be able to see personalities and groups they would otherwise have to travel to the Central Belt to see.
"Our first event will happen in 2010, probably in the second half of the year. We do not wish to say too much at this stage, for reasons of commercial confidentiality, but we are in dialogue with representatives of a number of big-name artistes spanning rock, mainstream and folk music. It is fair to say the artistes are showing particular enthusiam for playing in a castle grounds."
The Dowager Lady Cawdor commented: "This represents yet another step in the progression of Cawdor Castle Ltd. With 70 per cent of our visitors coming from overseas, it is important that we also provide the local community with a new venue and a wider variety of music.
"We look forward to a fruitful partnership with CK Events whose proven track record fits well with our long term strategy."
Cawdor Castle, built round a holly tree in 1370, is a leading visitor attraction. Its walled garden dates from the 1600s, the flower garden a century later while the wild garden was established almost 50 years ago.
