| The town of Gretna is in the area that is known for | | | | There are many castles that can be visited in the |
| runaway weddings in Dumfries and Galloway, | | | | nearby areas and the nearby town of Carlisle has a |
| Scotland. The weddings were possible because of the | | | | beautiful cathedral. The Tullie House Museum and |
| liberal marriage laws in Scotland when compared to | | | | Gallery is an award winning museum and a section of |
| England. This town is very close to the English border | | | | Hadrian's Wall is situated nearby. Other heritage sites |
| and is near the mouth of the Esk River. | | | | include several roman forts, Sweetheart Abbey, |
| Gretna actually translates in to place at gravelly hill. The | | | | Museum of Costume and Thomas Carlyle's birthplace. |
| village was originally famous for a large cordite | | | | The Solway estuary is a site of special scientific |
| munitions factory that produced ammunition for World | | | | interest as the estuary is the wintering home of many |
| War I. This is the largest munitions factory every built | | | | waterfowl. You can view Sandpipers, curlew, Spotted |
| and stretches for nine miles. It employed over 30, 000 | | | | redshank, Greenshank, ruff and Browhouses. You can |
| workers where they mixed guncotton and | | | | see Barnacle Geese at the nearby Caerlaverock |
| nitro-glycerin into cordite paste and then loading this into | | | | Nature reserve. |
| shell cases. | | | | Other activities in the town and surrounding area |
| The town was built in order to house all the workers | | | | include ten pin bowling, greyhound racing, go-carting, |
| for the factory. Today much of the industry centers | | | | farm buggy riding, fishing, golf, paint balling, craft shops, |
| around marriage and about one in six Scottish | | | | woolen mills and more. The village is a great spot to |
| marriages occur in Gretna. There is also a complex of | | | | explore the surrounding area and if you feel the urge |
| discount shops at the Gretna gateway Outlet Village. | | | | you can get married in the nearby Gretna Green. |