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A woman beams as she holds up the pair of entwined iron hearts she and her partner have forged.
Dumfries and Galloway

The Couples Experience at the Gretna Green Forge

A private 90 minutes at Gretna Green's working forge, where a couple make an entwined-hearts keepsake alongside the resident blacksmith.

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Welcome

For the first time in more than 150 years, Gretna Green has a working blacksmith again, and the new Forge, opened in September 2026, is glowing.

This private session is made for two. Alongside Joe, the resident blacksmith, you'll learn the old techniques, then work the hot metal together into a pair of entwined hearts, a keepsake made with your own hands in the village famous for marrying couples over the anvil. It's a brilliant way to mark an anniversary or a proposal. It lasts about an hour and a half.

Before you go
How long
An hour and a half
Cost
£249 a couple, booked online with a small fee
Where
The working Forge, opened in September 2026.
You take home
The pair of entwined iron hearts you make together.
Wear
Closed-toe shoes, long hair tied back, nothing loose. Apron, gloves and safety glasses are provided.
Book
Online at gretnagreen.com, or call 01461 336 001.
Getting here
Free parking on site, just off the M74 (locked 6pm to 8am); Gretna Green station is a short walk.
Dogs
Welcome across most of the site, though not in the restaurants or the Larder shop.

Did you know

The blacksmith at work at the anvil in the new Gretna Green Forge, its hooded hearth behind him.
Did you know

In September 2026 Gretna Green got a working blacksmith again, for the first time in more than 150 years.

The village in Dumfries and Galloway is famous for weddings over a blacksmith's anvil, but the fires went out long ago. On 2 September 2026 a new forge opened beside the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, with Joe Shevelan as resident blacksmith, and the ring of hammer on steel is back. Visitors can watch him at work, or have a go themselves: strike a coin from hot metal in half an hour, forge a fireside poker at their own anvil, or make a pair of entwined iron hearts as a couple.

An old yellow-wheeled carriage in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
Did you know

In 1818 a former Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, Lord Erskine, rode to Gretna Green dressed as a woman to marry his housekeeper.

Thomas Erskine, once the most senior judge in the land, was in his late sixties when he set off north with Sarah Buck, his housekeeper. To slip past anyone who might stop them, he travelled in women's clothes. His son raced after them and arrived at Gretna Green, the first village over the Scottish border in Dumfries and Galloway, too late: the couple were married on 12 October 1818. The story is told in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, where old coaches still stand.

A guide in a tartan sash tells a group the story of the anvil in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
Did you know

The earliest Gretna Green wedding on record, in 1771, ended a chase across the Solway Firth in which the bride's father's boat capsized.

John Edgar and Jean Scott, both from Cumberland, fled across the Solway by boat to reach Scotland, where a couple could marry by declaration without a parent's consent. Jean's father followed in a second boat, but a storm overturned it and one of his party drowned. The couple landed safely, and the next day Joseph Paisley married them at Gretna Green, the first village over the border in Dumfries and Galloway. A newspaper of the time called it the first Gretna marriage on record.

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Where it is

At Gretna Green, just over the border on the A74(M): the working Forge, opened in September 2026.

Close by
  1. Gretna GreenGretna GreenThe first village over the border, where runaway couples married at an anvil.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Gretna Green Guided TourGretna Green Guided TourUnder a mile as the crow flies
  3. Handfasting at Gretna GreenHandfasting at Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  4. The First Sip of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Sip of Scotland, Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  5. The First Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  6. The Smithy Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeThe Smithy Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeAn hour at your own anvil in Gretna Green's forge, learning the basics of blacksmithing and making a fireside poker to take home.Under a mile as the crow flies
Directions
The blacksmith works the big iron coin press at the Gretna Green Forge while a visitor in a striped jumper looks on.ActivityThe Forge Experience at Gretna GreenA step away
White cottage buildings with sign for Gretna Green Famous Blacksmiths ShopAttractionsGretna Green Old Blacksmiths ShopA step away
Wooden sculpture of two clasped hands rising against a pale skyAttractionsThe Big Dance (the Clasping Hands), Gretna GreenA step away
White building with sign for The Devil's Porridge Museum behind a stone wallAttractionsThe Devil's Porridge Museum4.8 miles
Wooden washbacks line a distillery hall with exposed brick walls and timber roof beamsAttractionsAnnandale Distillery8.9 miles
Grassy shoreline overlooking mudflats and distant hills across the firthAttractionsThe Annan Shore Walk8.9 miles
Spending A Day In Scotland’s Debatable LandsAttractionsGilnockie Tower9.7 miles
Cottage room with black cast-iron range, tartan mantel and spinning wheel beside the windowAttractionsThomas Carlyle's Birthplace9.9 miles
The Daily for 18 October, from Scotland with love. Golden-hour light catches a shadowed mountain above a loch, rust-coloured moorland in the foreground

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