Scottish Highland village blames bleak outlook on BBC

The sun may be out, but storm clouds are gathering over the tiny Highland community of Carrbridge. For come rain or shine, the BBC's weather forecast invariably predicts showers, infuriating the village's 700 residents.

Now they have declared war on the corporation, complaining its forecasts are putting a dampener on tourism and threatening livelihoods. They are urging other UK communities who feel equally aggrieved to follow their lead.

Villagers claim that despite its name - Carr is Gaelic for boggy - they live in one of the driest areas of Scotland. Protected by mountains and nestling in the Cairngorms National Park near Aviemore, it has its own enviable microclimate. Damp mists, so redolent of the Highlands, are virtually unknown and rainfall is as low as in the south of England.



But if you type the Carrbridge postcode into the BBC's weather website, more often than not the black-and-grey graphics of cloud and downpours pop up. "We have sun. It says rain. And it's driving the visitors away," said Danny Fullerton, who runs the Landmark forest adventure park (postcode: PH23 3AJ), just outside the village.

Backed by Carrbridge's business community, he has now raised the matter with the BBC. "It's a reasoned complaint," said Andrew Kirk, chairman of the local business association, who runs the Cairn Hotel. "We are just trying to explain to a very large organisation what effect they are having on a very small community."

Local traders say most people turn to the BBC website before planning their days out. But, while the website was showing rain almost every day for the past fortnight, the local woods were declared a fire risk because it was so dry. "That's how bad it is," said local sculptor Alice Buttress.