Coldstream

Three miles west of Coldstream, the England-Scotland border comes down from the hills and runs beside the Tweed for the rest of its journey to the sea. Coldstream itself, like Gretna Green, was once a Las Vegas of sorts, where runaway couples from the south could come to get married in a time when the marriage laws of Scotland were more lenient than those of England. A plaque on the former bridge tollhouse recalls this fact. The town is also celebrated in military history: in 1659 General Monck raised a regiment of foot guards here on behalf of his exiled monarch, Charles II of England (1630-85). Known as the Coldstream Guards, the successors to this regiment have become an elite corps in the British army. Today Coldstream is still a small town, with a mix of attractive 18th- and 19th-century buildings.