Dumfries home that inspired Peter Pan author JM Barrie will offer hope to sick children

A CAMPAIGN has been launch-ed to turn the Dumfries home that inspired J M Barrie to write Peter Pan into a respite centre for children from Great Ormond Street Hospital.

• Moat Brae House could become a Peter Pan-themed tourist attraction

Moat Brae House was saved from demolition last year and is now slated to become an international Peter Pan-themed tourist attraction.

On the 150th anniversary of the author's birth yesterday, campaigners kicked off a fundraising drive to attract 4 million to allow patients from the London hospital and sick children from hospitals across Scotland to be invited to stay.

The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust, which saved the property last year, has attracted the support of actress Joanna Lumley, who has a home in Dumfriesshire and loves the Peter Pan story.

Trustees hope her zeal, evident when she helped secure British residency rights for the Gurkhas, will help them.

Lumley said: "It is just terrific to think that in the Moat Brae House and garden, sick children will be cared for in the attic where Nana looked after the Darling children. It is as though Tinkerbell has clapped her hands to save this beautiful and historically important place for all of us, the Lost Boys of the 21st century."

When Barrie was a pupil at Dumfries Academy in the 1870s, his friends Stuart and Hal Gordon lived in Moat Brae House and they played together in its sprawling garden.

The house is now derelict and the garden that inspired Neverland a wasteland. Under the plans, the garden will be turned into a performance space and adventure playpark that will be connected by a tunnel to Peter Pan story rooms in Moat Brae House. The project also includes a caf, shop and "events" area. It is estimated it could draw up to 20,000 fee-paying visitors a year.

Patients from the London hospital, to which the Scots author gifted the copyright to his most famous work, will be able to stay in a new visitor centre devoted to the boy who never grew up. Sick children from hospitals across Scotland will also be invited to stay.

Cathy Agnew, of the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust, said: "Everything we are planning to do in the building is concentrating on children and literature and inspiration because without the house and garden we would never have had Peter Pan."

Michael Russell, education minister and South of Scotland MSP, said: "The plans are very exciting. This could be a big asset to the community."

A spokesman for the Great Ormond Street Hospital said: "This sounds like a great opportunity for families and sick children across the UK."

The basement of the house is to become a Peter Pan Experience, with the ground floor also to be open for public use. The first floor is to be office space and the top floor used for respite care for children and families.