Mention Gretna Green and everyone immediately thinks of run away marriages. You can still get married here but it is now very much big business and into money making geared to the ‘Love Experience’ and the Courtship Maze.
The Blacksmith Shop is now very much a tourist attraction and will cost you £3.50 to go in and see the exhibition.
Behind it an surrounding a grassed area with plenty of seats are the shops and cafe. These are quite up market with prices to match but do have a much wider range than the average mill shop. There are shops specialising in clothes, kitchen ware, gifts, whisky and food. It has an excellent range of shortbread and biscuits. You can also buy haggis, lorne sausage, cheese and smoked fish.
There is a large self service restaurant which does cheap hot lunches and are better value than their sandwiches. There was a variety of different cakes but they didn’t look that interesting – I wasn’t tempted.
This is popular stopping off place with a large car park and the huge ladies toilet reflects this. They were clean and well maintained. This applied to the whole site and staff were going round emptying waste bins and removing litter. If you are looking for a place to stop, this is as good as anywhere and probably more interesting than the Gretna Outlet Village.
