A new venture from Scottish Screen and Visit Scotland hopes to attract more Hollywood films to Scotland’s stately homes.

The agencies have joined forces to compile a brochure entitled ‘Mansion Locations in Scotland’. They hope that exposure on the big screen will boost Scotland as a tourist destination whilst also giving the local film industry a shot in the arm.

The brochure features over 500 mansions available for filming purposes. It includes Ardverikie House, in Badenoch, which appears in the BBC TV series Monarch of the Glen - shown in more then 20 countries.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board commented, "If any area is portrayed in a positive light in a film or on TV then it’s obviously great publicity and will encourage tourists to visit that area."

However, Kevin Cowle, locations operations manager for Scottish Screen was keen to stress that Scottish Screen wasn’t just interested in big budget productions. He said, "This brochure is for any professional film maker - it doesn’t matter if they are shooting a film worth £50 million or a low budget movie worth around £500,000."