Photos and the City

Tag: Scotland

Gretna Green

Hello Scotland! From Jane Austen to Downton Abbey – there was always at least one daughter that run away to Gretna Green in the middle of the night to get married. I´ve read so much about this little town on the Scottish border, that I just had to stay a night there! And lucky me – I even met a runaway bride!

In the middle of the 18th-century marriage laws in England were changed. One had to be at least 21 to be allowed to get married without the parents’ consent and the wedding had to take place in a church.

But in Scotland “you could marry on the spot, in a simple ‘marriage by declaration’, or‘handfasting’ ceremony, only requiring two witnesses and assurances from the couple that they were both free to marry.” (Gretna Green) as long as you were over 15 and not closely related to each other.

Gretna Green was the first village on Scottish soil on the direct route between London and Edinburgh and as the couples had no time to lose, Gretna Green became the #1 destination for weddings at the “famous” blacksmith shop, where you could still get married today. We saw quite a few couples doing this and sneaked in between.

Even so, Scottish law allowed a very short and informal “ceremony”,

English couples usually preferred to keep some English marriage traditions and so looked for someone in authority to oversee the ceremony. The most senior and respected craftsman or artisan in the countryside was the village blacksmith, and so the Blacksmith’s Forge at Gretna Green became a favourite place for weddings.

The tradition of the blacksmith sealing the marriage by striking his anvil led to the Gretna blacksmiths becoming known as ‘anvil priests’. Indeed the blacksmith and his anvil are now symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Gretna Green’s famous Blacksmiths Shop, the Old Smithy where lovers have come to marry since 1754, is still in the village and still a wedding venue. (Historic UK.com)

I stayed at the lovely Prince Charlies Cottage B&B and it was just a short walk to the Blacksmiths and the whole “shebang”, the shops and café around the venue reminded me of a tiny charming Las Vegas – it´s all about marriage, romance and fun. And the view from behind the parking is amazing!

When you feel fed and have enough of the shopping what about a little walk to the adjoining Gretna, a planned town built during World War I to provide homes for 30,000 employees of a munitions factory that was the biggest in the world. I planned to visit “The Devil’s Porridge” museum the next day to learn more about the factory but was too early.

But if you´re up for even more shopping there is a huge Outlet centre in Gretna, I prefer a little evening walk…

Huge thank you to the lovely runaway bride, actress Alice.

09/10/2018
[TRAVELNOTICE] Northern England & Scotland

This summer I will be travelling around Northern England and Scotland and would love to photograph you!

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Find all the information on my portraiture website or shoot me a message!

19/06/2018
Jacobite Train

When I walked around Edinburgh with Darina she told me about this “Harry Potter train”, an old steam train that crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct (like in the movies) and passes many filming locations not only from “Harry Potter” but also “Outlander” and “Game of Thrones”. I didn´t get that train out of my mind, put it on top of the bucket list and to be honest it was kind of my excuse to travel to Scotland during the summer. (As you would need an excuse..)

There are different compartments like second class, first class and first class “Harry Potter Style”, which I picked – I just love to ride in style!

There is also a little “Harry Potter gift shop on board. But even if you´re not interested in that wizard-stuff at all, the train ride from Fort William to Mallaig is one of the most scenic train journeys alongside Loch Eil, Glenfinnan Viaduct and Arisaig.

The route is also the same shown in the Harry Potter films. The company running the Jacobite service provided Warner Brothers with the train used as the Hogwarts Express in all of the movies and allowed them use of the Jacobite’s route for filming. The locomotive used to pull the Hogwarts Express in the films, the GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall, is presently located at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden and can be seen during studio tours. (Wikipedia)

The Jacobite Train starts from Fort William and ends 41 miles later in Mallaig.

The Mallaig Extension of the West Highland Railway opened in 1901 and was operated by the North British Railway. It was intended to help open up this rural and remote part of the Scottish Atlantic coast, and the building of the line was heavily subsidised by the British Government. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923, and British Railways at Nationalisation in 1948. (Wikipedia)

Regular Steam Train services ended in 1967. In 1984 British Railways reintroduced a Steam Train on part of this route to boost tourism and called it the “West Highlander”, later renamed to “The Lochaber”.

After the privatisation of the British Railway, the licence for this route was granted to the West Coast Railway Company and they started their service in the summer of 1995 under the name “The Jacobite”.

The image above shows the Glenfinnan monument shortly before the Glenfinnan Viaduct. My seat was on the aisle side so I didn´t see the viaduct but I made that up on the way back.

A longer stop at the Glenfinnan station, to shop at the Harry Potter gift shop in the train and to visit the Glenfinnan Station Museum or just look around the station. There is also an old Dining and Sleeping Car, which I have to try out next time.

We´re approaching Mallaig – hello again! This was already my starting point for Skye. The train stopped for around one to two hours in Mallaig which I spent just sitting at the harbour. Had to take in as much sea as possible before going back to Vienna.

Wouldn´t that be the perfect place to write, relax and just switch off?

Meeting the afternoon train at Glenfinnan station. That was my clue to get out on the aisle and watch the train ride from the window in the door.

The first view of the viaduct and I´m not the only one peeking out of the window.

About an hour later we arrived back at Fort William and I spent my last hours walking around the town and boarded the Caledonian sleeper back to London in the evening.

And I can´t wait to go back to Scotland!

14/09/2017