Harry Potter Book Night
Across Scotland, Thursday
Publishers Bloomsbury have conjured up the first ever night celebrating the boy wizard's adventures in print, with the aim of passing on the magic of JK Rowling's mega-selling book series to a new generation of readers. To take part, look out for special wizarding events in local libraries, community centres, and bookshops - including Waterstones stores in Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. Alternatively, if you've got the time, energy and imagination to spare, why not download the handy online event kit - packed with games, decorations, quizzes, templates and suggested readings - and organise one for yourself? www.harrypotter.bloomsbury.com/uk
Garmin Arenacross
SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Saturday
This full-throttle touring motorbike show comes roaring into Scotland for the first time on Saturday. Described as a high-octane family spectacular, the event combines frenetic dirt bike racing on a purpose-built indoor track with jaw-dropping displays of freestyle motocross, in which riders attempt to outdo each other by performing tricks up to 40 feet in the air to a pulsating sound and light show. Among an array of top riders from around the world, the lineup includes Dan Whitby and Samson Eaton, whose Bolddog FMX Display Team appeared on last year's Britain's Got Talent. Tickets available from £21.09 (£11.10 children). www.arenacrossuk.com
First Tingles of Spring
Almond Valley, Livingston, Feb 7-22
If only the tingling sensation you've been feeling lately has been frostbite, a visit to Almond Valley could be just the thing to help wake things up again. Spanning the next three weekends, the Livingston-based heritage centre and agricultural museum has organised a range of activities for little ones inspired by the imminent arrival of spring, including bean planting and nest building. Visitors can also check up on freshly-hatched chicks, meet cows, goats, sheep, and horses, and enjoy indoor and outdoor play areas. Admission is £6.50, and £5 for children aged 3-17. www.almondvalley.co.uk
Kingussie Food on Film Festival
Various venues in Kingussie, Thursday to Sunday
Pitched midway between box office and dinner table, this tasty little offering combines two of life's greatest pleasures - eating, and sitting around watching movies. After an opening night gala screening of Kiss The Water - a contemplative documentary profile of Scottish fly-fishing hook maker Megan Boyd - the weekend also includes Saturday's Food Hall event, featuring stalls and demonstrations from a clutch of specialist producers and a teddy bears picnic for children. Meanwhile, there are also a series of special screenings pairing sit-down menus to food-themed films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Lunchbox, and The Joy Luck Club. www.kingussiefoodonfilm.co.uk/festival-2015
Call of the Sea
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick, daily
There's still time to catch this winter exhibition focusing on the fascinating evolution of Scotland's maritime industries. Touching on the future of marine conservation and the dangerous realities of life at sea, Call of the Sea brings together vivid photography, historical artefacts from sources such as the Scottish Fisheries Museum, and the real life stories of members of local fishing communities. Visitors can make a day of it and stay on to enjoy the award-winning attraction's telescope deck, wildlife theatre, kids zone, and range of hi-tech cameras trained on the islands of the Firth of Forth. Entry is £8.95 for adults and £4.95 for children. www.seabird.org
Scottish Caravan Motorhome & Holiday Show
SECC, Glasgow, today to Sunday
Planning your next getaway? If so, this huge outdoor lifestyle and consumer show could help give you a nudge towards checking out Scotland's wide open spaces instead of checking in to the nearest airport departure lounge. As well as the chance to weigh up the competing merits of a dizzying variety of caravan, motorhome, boat, holiday and travel companies, there's also the chance to stock up at an enormous farmers market, with attractions for children including facepainting, magicians, rides, and a climbing wall. Open from 10am to 6pm each day, adult tickets are £8-12, with children under 16 free. www.caravanshowscotland.com
Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival
George Square Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday to Sunday
Speaking of getting away from it all, another of the most popular indoor events in Scotland's outdoor calendar is back with a 12th annual weekend of film and chat for fans of mountains, extreme sports, and photography. Along with inspirational and entertaining visuals from some of the wildest spots on the planet, among those stopping by to share their stories are British Paralympian cyclist Karen Darke, mountaineer and photographer Cory Richards, climber Tom Randall, adventurer Dave Cornthwaite, and Edinburgh mountaineer Jamie Andrew, who suffered a quadruple amputation following an accident in the Alps. Tickets are £7-£12. www.emff.co.uk
Fife Jazz Festival
Across Fife, Friday to Sunday
Another three days of jazz, blues and soul in venues from Cupar to Kirkcaldy as Fife Jazz Festival returns for a ninth year. With concerts spanning the classic r'n'b of Jools Holland Big Band singer Ruby Turner to the Hot Club stylings of gypsy-jazz combo Rose Room, there's also room for events such as The Big Dance (Friday), which transforms Rothes Halls into a ballroom for a night of music for dancing with the Scottish Swing Orchestra. Meanwhile, Saturday's The Blender, a three hour late night take-over of the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, features six different bands and a DJ. www.fifejazzfestival.com
Turtle Fest
Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre, Balloch, from Sunday
Find out everything you've ever wanted to know about this unique and endangered species over two weeks of themed events inspired by star resident Cammy, Scotland's only giant green sea turtle. As well as talks, feedings and a quiz trail, visitors can also bring along plastic carrier bags to be recycled - which, when ingested by turtles in the wild can cause illness and even death. Home to thousands of marine animals including a family of otters and the largest collection of sharks in Scotland, Sea Life Centre is open daily from 10am-5pm. Tickets start at around £13, but if you book online you can get up to 30% off. www.visitsealife.com/loch-lomond
Edinburgh Iranian Festival
Across Edinburgh, from Friday
This 11-day cultural showcase introducing Scottish audiences to the history, art, music food, and fashion of Iran gets underway with Friday's Opening Ceremony at St John's Church in Princes Street, featuring poet Rab Wilson and the Glasgow-based Arazoo Symphony Orchestra. A diverse and perception-challenging line-up also includes a contemporary fashion show on Saturday at the National Museum of Scotland, as well as art exhibitions at Summerhall and the Sutton Gallery and a film season at the Filmhouse. Elsewhere, festival-goers can also attend workshops in traditional music and calligraphy, and lectures covering everything from tourism to ancient history. www.ediranfest.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article