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Visitors reach for samples at the First Taste of Scotland, jars and sauces on the counter in front of them.
Dumfries and Galloway

The First Taste of Scotland, Gretna Green

A guided tasting of local treats and Scottish favourites at Gretna Green, with the stories behind each one and the chance to take the best home.

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Welcome

Some of the best things about Scotland come on a plate, and this half-hour tasting puts a few of them in front of you.

A host at Gretna Green guides you through local treats and time-honoured favourites, telling the stories, recipes and traditions behind each one as you go. It's a fun introduction for first-timers and a happy reunion for anyone coming back for old favourites, and whatever you like best can be bought 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 Famous Blacksmiths Shop.
What you taste
Local preserves and sauces, traditional shortbread and other Scottish favourites, all for sale afterwards.
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.

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 couple hold the tartan ribbon over the marriage anvil in the low-beamed old smithy.
Did you know

Gretna Green's first famous anvil priest, Joseph Paisley, was a former tobacconist and smuggler, not a blacksmith.

Paisley began marrying runaway couples at Gretna Green, just over the border in Dumfries and Galloway, in the 1700s, and he became a legend. Accounts describe a huge man of at least 25 stone who liked a drink, and the story goes that he once married two couples to the wrong partners and told them to sort it out between themselves. None of the anvil priests was ever ordained, and plenty of them never shod a horse. You can still stand at the old marriage anvil in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop.

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Where it is

At Gretna Green, just over the border on the A74(M): 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 Sip of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Sip 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

The Daily

Arrives at 5am every day.

A free morning email to see what’s on this week, catch up on what’s happening in Scotland and find somewhere new to go.

Hidden Scotland, the magazine

Scotland, in print.

We want to show you the best that Scotland has to offer. The makers and the creatives, the enduring experiences, the evocative tales, the concealed corners. The roads less travelled that take you to places that matter. The adventures that gather you up and sweep you away. The blend of the wild and the artistic that makes Scotland what it is. We’d love for you to join us.

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For further reading, before you go.