Scottish Panoramas Gretna Green, the most romantic place in Scotland?

VICKY ALLAN

BACK in the 18th century, the village of Gretna Green was Britain’s Las Vegas – and the smithy there its Little White Wedding Chapel. Some of that buzz still endures. Last year’s leap year even saw a wedding surge that made the village break its record for Valentine’s

Day weddings.

“I am going to Gretna Green,” wrote Lydia Bennett to her friend Harriet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, “and if you cannot guess with who, I shall think you a simpleton for there is just one man in the world I love, and he is an angel. I should never be happy without him, so think it no harm to be off. ”

Though it’s been centuries since any English couple had to gallop across the border into Scotland in order to be wed by the smithy at Gretna Green, its allure as a place for rebel lovers endures. It’s as if we can’t, whether Scottish or English, throw off the idea that a proper passionate love story is one that is against the odds, Romeo and Juliet style. It also doesn’t help that Jane Austen, writer of some of the most loved romantic novels of all time, put Gretna Green in several of her books – and that even Bridgerton gives the village a mention.

There will be no weddings in Gretna Green this Valentine’s Day – though that has nothing to do with the popularity of the town as a destination for couples set on basking in the aftervibe of generations of lovers who fled there to tie the knot. This year, of course, it’s Covid-19 that has stamped its restrictions, and put the barriers up between true love.

Gretna Green, and its famous blacksmith became the focus of mass elopement, after, in 1754, changes were made to the marriage laws requiring those under 21 to have parental approval. In Scotland, there were no such restrictions – and boys over the age of 14 and girls over the age of twelve were allowed to marry without parental consent, provided they were not close relatives or in a relationship with a third party.

It’s extraordinary to think that it was not until 1929 that the minimum age for a girl to marry in Scotland was raised from twelve to 16.

The idea of lovers on the run might sound romantic – but not all the marriages were ideal for the young women. In 1826, widower Edward

Gibbon Wakefield kidnapped 15-year-old Cheshire heiress Ellen Turner, luring her from school by saying her mother was unwell and he had been asked to take her to her father, but instead taking her to Gretna to marry. It caused a scandal.

WHY DO YOU GO THERE?

As a kid from Glasgow, visiting Loch Lomond was the ultimate day trip.

The four of us – my mum, dad, sister and me – would all go. Hearing that phrase “we are going for a run in the car ...”, the excitement would start to build.

It seemed like another world. I was brought up in a council estate in the Gorbals, which I loved, but it felt like in 20 minutes you went from Taggart to Monarch of the Glen. The air was different. It looked beautiful. You could see animals that were bigger than you, like horses and cows.

Once you get out into the countryside, things aren’t just big, they are vast, and you feel like this tiny wee dot. I love the rolling hills and the stillness of the loch. Every photograph you take of Loch Lomond looks like a postcard.

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER IT?

I have my mum and dad to thank for introducing me to it. I remember watching jet skis and speedboats out on the water. I thought this was maybe where all the winners from Bullseye went.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY?

Walking about Luss, the smell of chips and going for a paddle. Then, later that night, the smell of calamine lotion for the sunburn on my back. I was born in the 1980s so whenever I went to Luss, I genuinely thought I was in Take The High Road because that is where they filmed it.

I would always be disappointed going into the shop and it wasn’t like the one that Isabel had on the telly.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO?

Pre-pandemic, usually five or six times a year.

WHO DO YOU TAKE?

My girlfriend. We did Conic Hill. You might think it is romantic, but when you are sweating and out of breath? I’m not so sure. It did bring us closer together because we were freezing at the top. It is a very different date.

I don’t have any kids, but I would love to be a dad and my dream is to take my kids to Loch Lomond like my parents did for me. Hopefully, they can have the same love and affinity for it that I do.

WORDS.

SUSAN SWARBRICK

WHAT DO YOU TAKE?

A picnic. A flask of soup, sandwiches, prawn cocktail Skips and tiny wee sausages.

WHAT DO YOU LEAVE BEHIND?

My phone – if I am brave enough.

SUM IT UP IN FIVE

Take The High Road Forever.

WHAT TRAVEL SPOT IS ON YOUR POST-LOCKDOWN WISH LIST?

I fancy doing the North Coast 500. It is one of the best driving routes in the world and right on our doorstep. When restrictions ease and we can travel again, that is on my list. The romantic in me would love to travel around in a campervan but I think after the second night I would miss being in a nice hotel room.