Alasdair Houston MBE

Making this description all the more remarkable was that he was also a successful businessman outwith agriculture – which he freely admitted remained his first love. As the driving force behind the development of Gretna Green into one of Scotland’s top tourist attractions, he had demonstrated his resilience in rebuilding and adding to the business in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alasdair had previously shown this same ability to pick up a business after it had been hit with a totally unforeseen disaster when his famous Gretnahouse pedigree cattle were culled in the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Although none of his cattle were infected with the virus, he watched them being slaughtered as part of the wider disease control plan. It was a 'sore' with Alasdair for many years and he shared the depths of his despair and the desire to rebuild with readers of the Scottish farmer in an emotional piece written during the outbreak.

He did as he promised back then and rebuilt the herd from scratch, making the Gretnahouse name once again, renowned in the farming world with his chosen breeds, Charolais and Aberdeen-Angus cattle, though he had one time also bred one of the greats of the Simmental breed, Gretnahouse Supersonic.

In rebuilding the herds post F and M, Alasdair scoured the pedigrees and sought out cattle from throughout the UK, as well as using embryo that he already had 'in the tank'. This was all done with his trademark determined, honest, and competitive energy. Over the course of 35 years, he had made his own definitive mark on the world of pedigree cattle breeding, as well as in the wedding, hospitality and tourism industries.

In a further demonstration of his resilience, one of Alasdair’s final acts was to finally secure private funding to ensure the future of another of his projects, a monumental public artwork, The Star of Caledonia. This was first conceived 20 years ago as a symbol of ambition, recovery, energy, innovation, regeneration after the devastation of foot-and-mouth pandemic,

The Star will welcome everyone entering Scotland at the Border at Gretna Green and will be built on a piece of the farmland close to the Border that the family has donated to the project. For centuries, people the world over have known the village of Gretna Green for weddings, as prospective couples eloped over the border from England to take advantage of Scotland’s more relaxed marriage laws.

Pre-Covid, Gretna Green performed 10% of all weddings in Scotland, and welcomed more than 800,000 visitors a year to the family-owned business which was started by Alasdair’s great-grandfather. Reflecting its importance nationally, the team at Gretna Green, earlier this year, won the Queen’s Award for International Trade.

The prestigious business award came in recognition of pre-Covid-19 successes with its online business and international tourism. Now, prior to Alasdair’s death the award was presented, with the business slowly welcoming back wedding parties. A decade earlier, he had been awarded an MBE for services to tourism in the local area and he was also a deputy Lord Lieutenant for the Dumfries and Galloway.

In developing the centre, Alasdair and his colleagues made the decision in 2006, that, if the village was going to fulfil its destiny as 'the' wedding destination, then wedding parties need good places to stay and celebrate, so the new Smith's Hotel was built.

In 2014, he bought a second hotel locally, fully refurbished and re branded it 'Greens at Gretna, First Hotel in Scotland.’ Then in 2016, the business bought a third hotel in the village, the 97-bedroom Gretna Hall.

Although diagnosed with cancer in 2018, Alasdair continued to look forward in business setting up new sales divisions including a new Chinese orientated retail website two years ago.

It is not surprising that this fast moving businessman was an accomplished athlete in his youth. He was a speedy rugby player at outside centre and wing when he captained the first XV at Glenalmond College.

He went on to play at both Langholm Rugby Club, and later as a student at Magdalen College, for Cambridge University prior to suffering a serious back injury in a car crash that nearly stopped short his life and certainly stopped a very promising rugby career.

Undaunted, he decided, post-recovery, to do the Cresta Run, the infamous toboggan run in St Moritz, in Switzerland, with a group of friends. Much to the horror of his sisters, he completed his official run unscathed, as well as completing it unofficially, a second time on a tea tray at 3.00am after a few drinks!

Even later in life, he always moved at speed as anyone trying to keep up with him on a farm walk would testify. He also held a private pilot’s license – justifying it, with a twinkle in his eye, by saying he could observe what his neighbours were up to.

Alasdair’s main interests in farming were well known. In breeding pedigree cattle, his attention to detail and well-researched bloodlines brought his cattle to prominence. Initially, he worked with two Continental breeds, Charolais and Simmental – both of which his father had imported in the 1970s.

Alasdair took over the cattle in 1985 after returning from education, latterly gaining a degree in agriculture at Edinburgh and, after a decade and a half of careful and well thought out breeding, Gretnahouse cattle were at the top end of the trade.

In 2001, that literally went up in smoke in the forced cull during the foot and mouth epidemic. Alasdair, confined in quarantine on the farm with his family, had to witness the cull with the stench and smoke of his beloved herd hanging over the farm for days as he recalled at the time in The SF.

He built back the Charolais herd first and latterly the Gretnahouse herd was once again one of the most influential in the national Charolais herdbook, with bulls selling for over £25,000 twice at recent national sales. His leadership skills and his enthusiasm for the breed saw him appointed the chairman of the Charolais breed society – a role which he carried out with diligence and was very much behind a drive to ratify the ethics and standards of pedigree breeding within the breed.

Not content with making the Charolais a success, in 2010 he moved into breeding Aberdeen-Angus cattle – though he did briefly consider introducing Beef Shorthorns at that time – hitting the jackpot in 2014 with the aptly named Gretnahouse Blacksmith, a highly influential bull with a much sought-after bloodline.

This bull was a game-changer not just for Gretnahouse but also for the breed in general and there will be few herds that do not have some cattle related to this bull in some way

In May, 2021, shortly before his death, Alasdair admitted he was 'honoured and overwhelmed' when awarded the Sir William Young Award by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the world of cattle breeding.

He richly enjoyed meeting people both professionally and, along with his wife, Lucy, in his personal life. They and their children, Tara and Rafe, hosted some legendary parties over the years and Ali – as he was known by friends – was a wicked raconteur with a rapid intelligence. He had a good line in banter as well as an infectious smile and a great gusto for a good time.

He loved people and was interested in giving young people a helping hand, whether it was his family members, his godchildren and others involved with the South of Scotland Youth Awards. As one of the biggest employers in Dumfries and Galloway, he was known to all of his staff and was instrumental in instituting progressive training and mentoring within the business – and that, along with his cattle breeding prowess, will be his lasting legacy.