Food, music and drink at this weekend’s Bowfest

Inveraray Castle in Argyll is hosting the 8th Best of the West Festival (Bowfest) this weekend.

This year’s event, which started yesterday (Friday) features an impressive line-up of music, food and drink from the west of Scotland and beyond, taking place in the castle grounds until tomorrow (Sunday).

There’s a daily line-up of the 25 bands who will perform on one of two stages at the event with former Runrig singer Donnie Munro (Band) on Saturday and Skipinnish (Sunday).

Six local celebrity chefs will hit the stage in the Festival Kitchen for inspiring cooking demonstrations including Scotland’s National Chef and Masterchef: The Professionals 2016 winner Gary Maclean.

The Food from Argyll Tent will serve fantastic food from across the region while the Loch Fyne Whisky Tent will have over one hundred whiskies to choose from with drams starting at just £2.50. A total of 26 craft stalls will exhibit and sell work from some of Argyll’s most talented artists. Finally for the kids, there will be free activities including a magician, tea cups, a climbing wall, bungee trampoline, fly fishing and more.

West Coast Motors are running bespoke coach services from Glasgow, Oban, Dunoon and Tarbert to BOWFest 2018 that will take visitors right to the festival and back. A second bus has been put on in Dunoon due to popular demand. The packages include entry to the festival and bookings are available on their West Coast Tours website. Visitors are encouraged to book bus and ticket packages early to avoid disappointment.

Eleanor, the Duchess of Argyll and founder of Best of the West Festival said: ‘We are delighted to welcome our site build team this weekend as the exciting transformation begins. Every year we look forward to bringing together some of our very best west coast musicians, food and drink producers, artists and chefs to our end of season celebration. 2018 is shaping up to be yet another unforgettable event.’

This year’s event is supported by EventScotland part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, through its National Events Programme.

Paul Bush OBE, director of events at VisitScotland, said:’We are delighted to be supporting BOWFest through our National Events Programme to deliver another outstanding event in 2018. Scotland is the perfect stage for events and the festival is a fantastic example of Argyll and the west coast’s strong cultural offering. I’m sure it will attract visitors from both the local area and further afield, helping drive strong economic impact for the region.’

Some tickets are still available via www.bowfest.co.uk. Joint ticket and bus packages available via www.westcoasttours.co.uk/great-days-out/bowfest/.