Tiny by area, large by per-square-mile drama. Castle Campbell sits in a wooded gorge above the village of Dollar — one of the most cinematic approach shots in central Scotland. Tower house and country park work suited to fashion, music video, and short-form drama.
Scotland's smallest council. Production enquiries via Communications team. Castle Campbell access through HES.
Access to private estates, NTS properties, HES sites, and NatureScot-designated areas runs on separate processes from the council. We handle the multi-party coordination as part of any production service brief.
Clackmannanshire is a working council, not a heritage county. The permit process is fast, the fees are low, and most filming happens on council land or in residential streets. Our job is to make it invisible to the residents.
For TVC and short-form brand work, we deliver as service producer. For HETV and feature work, we work alongside your UK production company as the Scottish unit.
For most filming on council-managed land in Clackmannanshire, yes. Clackmannanshire Council is the consent authority for council-owned streets, parks, and public spaces. Filming on private estates, NTS properties, HES heritage sites, or NatureScot-designated areas requires separate permissions from those bodies in addition to (or instead of) the council. Stills photography below a small crew threshold often doesn't need a council permit, but verifying for your specific brief is a 24-hour turnaround on our end.
Fee band for Clackmannanshire: low. Council-owned locations typically free for low-impact filming. Castle Campbell HES fees apply. Council permit fees are charged separately from any heritage body fees (HES, NTS, NatureScot) or private estate location fees. We quote a single combined number against the brief so you're not chasing five invoices.
1-2 weeks for council land. HES sites: 4 weeks. These are realistic lead times for cleanly-submitted applications. We've found council Comms teams in Clackmannanshire respond faster to producers who turn up with the application complete than to ones who send three rounds of questions first. That's the value we add at the start of a brief.
Council-owned land in Clackmannanshire: Clackmannanshire Council (via enquiries@clacks.gov.uk). Heritage castles and state-owned ruins: Historic Environment Scotland (HES). NTS properties: the relevant property manager via NTS Edinburgh. Designated natural sites (SSSIs, NNRs): NatureScot. Road closures: Police Scotland and the council Roads team jointly. Forest tracks on national forest estate: Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). Drone work over restricted areas: CAA plus local landowner.
Producers shooting Clackmannanshire most often come for Castle Campbell — perched in Dollar Glen, dramatic gorge approach. It's not the only option — we maintain notes on 4 key filmable locations in this council area and can scout to brief. Most of our work in Clackmannanshire doesn't end up at the single tourist-poster location anyway. It ends up at the second or third one.
Send a brief — production type, dates, locations of interest, approximate budget. Costed approach back within 24-72 hours.
Send a Brief WhatsApp JackImage source: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (typically CC BY-SA 4.0 or Public Domain, see Wikimedia page for exact licence per image).