VETERAN rockers Status Quo are to headline a major open-air music festival at Broadlands this summer.

The stately home - once the country seat of Lord Mountbatten and now the home of Lord and Lady Romsey - will rock to the sound of Quo during the Aero-Pop Proms on Saturday, August 10.

Also appearing will be ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again, The American Four Tops and a Slade line-up featuring original band members Dave Hill and Don Powell.

Weather permitting, there will also be a display by the famed Red Devils parachute team.

The gates to Broadlands at Romsey will be opened at 4pm and the show will start three hours later, giving visitors ample chance to enjoy a picnic in the grounds.

Tickets are available from the Bournemouth International Centre on 01202 456456; The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton on 023 8071 1811; Salisbury City Hall on 01722 327676; or from the 24-hour ticketline on 0870 2255163.

Status Quo were originally formed back in the late 1960s and had their first top 10 hit with the hippyesque Pictures of Matchstick Men in 1968.

Reborn as denim-clad rockers in the 1970s they churned out hit after hit ever since.

Despite countless personnel changes, the odd cocaine problem and health scares that have involved at least one quadruple heart by-pass operation, the power base of founder-members Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt has remained to the present day.

Quo are also currently discussing their annual appearance at the Bournemouth International Centre later this year. A date in November is expected to be confirmed shortly.