Scotland is steeling itself for a very big year in 2014.
Golf’s Ryder Cup and the Commonwealth Games will headline Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, which also includes a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge, Europe’s biggest brass band festival and a re-enactment of the Battle of Bannockburn.
The Battle of Bannockburn will be nothing, of course, compared to the Ryder Cup showdown between the United States and Europe.
The five themes for Homecoming 2014 – active, food and drink, creative, natural and ancestry – are all represented in the various events around the country.
Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, said: "With the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, the eyes of the world will be firmly on Scotland in 2014.
"The exceptional events unveiled this week will celebrate everything that is great about Scotland and will ensure that the world will receive the most spectacular of welcomes in 2014."
