The first wedding to take place in the newly-restored Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth was held on Saturday (27 February).

Cheshire couple Nadia Fortune and Steve Nesbit chose the stunning location, overlooking the harbour, to exchange their vows after Scottish Borders Council granted the historic building a licence to hold civil marriages.

The couple had decided that they would like to get married in the Scottish Borders and came across Gunsgreen House while browsing the internet. Nadia fell in love with the house. And for Steve the clincher was his notorious namesake – Gunsgreen was built in the 1750s by local smuggler and merchant John Nisbet.

Nadia said: "After spending a night at Gunsgreen and seeing the house first hand, we just knew it was the perfect venue for the celebration we wanted."

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The building, designed by John Adam, has had a number of guises over the years, from being a hideaway for smugglers to a guest house. In later years it housed the club house of Eyemouth Golf Club. The trust has taken care to incorporate elements of all of these periods into the rooms of the house, while at the same time giving it a new lease of life.

And now the Georgian mansion house's status as a wedding venue, accommodating up to 60 people, can be added to the list of reasons for visiting.

Its marriage licence covers several rooms in the house, including the kitchen and even the cellars, which now house an exhibition about smugglers and smuggling.

Simon Furness, of the Gunsgreen House Trust, said: "We are delighted that the Council has awarded us a licence to act as a marriage venue and we were very happy to welcome Steve and Nadia, whose wedding ceremony and reception was the first to take place in the newly restored building."

Work on restoring the Georgian mansion house was completed in August last year, after the Gunsgreen House Trust received an injection of funding from Scottish Borders Council, Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Funding.

There will be an official opening early in the first full season of operation, which begins on 6 March.

(GK/BMcC)