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Friends raise their tasting glasses round a barrel table at the First Sip of Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway

The First Sip of Scotland, Gretna Green

A half-hour tasting of whisky and gin made nearby, in the tasting room at the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, with a host to tell you what's in your glass.

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Welcome

If you've ever wondered what makes one dram different from the next, this is a friendly place to find out.

In the tasting room at the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, a host pours a handpicked line-up of spirits made close by, from whisky to gin, and talks you through how each one is made and what to look for in it. There's no jargon, just good stories and the chance to find a new favourite to take home. It lasts about half an hour.

Before you go
How long
Half an hour
Cost
£12.50 a person, booked online with a small fee
Where
The tasting room at the Famous Blacksmiths Shop.
What you taste
Five drams of whisky and gin made nearby.
Ages
Over-18s.
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

A couple make a heart with their hands for a photograph outside the Shops at the Green.
Did you know

Gretna Green's Famous Blacksmiths Shop stands at Headless Cross, where five old coaching roads met.

The smithy was built around 1713 at the crossroads in Gretna Green, just over the border in Dumfries and Galloway, and its spot was everything. Coaches coming north from England passed its door, so it became the place where runaway couples stopped to marry. In 1886 Hugh Mackie opened it to visitors, which by Gretna Green's account makes it one of the first places in Britain you could pay to look round. His family still runs it today, with the museum, the anvil and the coaches inside.

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.

The guide stands beside the anvil under a sign reading The anvil that forged hearts.
Did you know

True or false: Richard Rennison, the last anvil priest at Gretna Green, was a blacksmith.

False. Rennison married 5,147 couples at Gretna Green in Dumfries and Galloway between 1926 and 1940, more than anyone else, but he was a saddler, ironmonger and Methodist preacher from Northumberland. The anvil priests took their name from the smithy, not the trade. Marriage by simple declaration, which had drawn runaway couples north since 1754, ended in July 1940, though couples still marry over the anvil today in proper ceremonies. The guided tour of the Famous Blacksmiths Shop tells the whole story.

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Where it is

At Gretna Green, just over the border on the A74(M): the tasting room at the Famous Blacksmiths Shop.

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 Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  5. The Couples Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeThe Couples Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeA private 90 minutes at Gretna Green's working forge, where a couple make an entwined-hearts keepsake alongside the resident blacksmith.Under 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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