Buyer sought for Peter Pan house

Moat Brae gardens inspired JM Barrie to write Peter Pan

The house which helped to inspire JM Barrie's classic children's story Peter Pan is to be put up for sale.

The Scots author played in the gardens of Moat Brae in Dumfries as a child and later cited it as playing a part in the "genesis" of his famous work.

The former nursing home was previously sold at auction in November 2000.

There were plans to transform it into a themed hotel but it has lain empty for the past eight years and has regularly been the target of vandalism attacks.

Barrie, who was born in Kirriemuir in Angus, moved to Dumfries in 1873 at the age of 13.

Two of his childhood friends lived at Moat Brae, a place he later credited as his inspiration for Peter Pan.

"Our escapades in a certain Dumfries garden which was an enchanted land to me was certainly the genesis of this work," he wrote in his memoirs in 1904.

Moat Brae was run as a nursing home for many years but was sold at auction nearly eight years ago.

Plans were floated to turn it into a Peter Pan-themed hotel but it has fallen into a state of disrepair since then.

Awaiting valuation

Now property firm Re/Max has been instructed to put it up for sale.

"We have had instructions to sell the property but it has not yet gone on the market as we are awaiting a valuation," said a spokesman.

A Barrie House Action Group has been formed in Dumfries to campaign for the preservation of the property and its link with the author.

Chairman Roger Windsor said: "We hoped at one stage that the council would make a compulsory purchase to safeguard the future of the property.

"But that's not going to happen.

"We hope that if the house is now sold it will be restored and preserved."