Prepare to be enchanted

Peter Pan is a character and story famous the world over. The tale of the ageless boy and his adventures with Wendy and the Lost Boys in the fantasy setting of Neverland have enchanted children all over the world for more than one hundred years. It is one of my favourite stories and something that I now enjoy reading to my young son.

And the magical story is set to spark the imagination of new generations of children across Scotland and beyond as Moat Brae, the new National Centre for Children’s Literature and Storytelling, opens its doors in Dumfries this weekend.

The magnificent Georgian house where J M Barrie played the childhood games that inspired Peter Pan has been restored and transformed over several years by the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust, following a £5.8 million fundraising campaign.

Not only will the opening of this unique visitor attraction help to propel the region into the spotlight, but it marks a new chapter for literary tourism in Scotland. Scotland’s most popular literary attractions currently attract around 380,000 visitors * every year – a figure that is sure to increase with the arrival of another celebration of Scotland’s famous writers. It is no surprise that our beautiful and varied landscape has provided inspiration for a long line of literary greats -  Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, John Buchan and Lewis Grassic Gibbon, to name just a few.

In my role as Regional Director for the South of Scotland I am lucky to get the chance to visit a lot of fascinating places and meet some amazing people – not least Dame Barbara Kelly and Cathy Agnew whose efforts literally stopped the building from being lost forever. For several years, I have been following the restoration project at Moat Brae and am full of admiration for those volunteers who have made this happen through their tireless fundraising and vision.

The opening of Moat Brae really does herald a new chapter for tourism in Dumfries & Galloway and across the whole of the South of Scotland.

We know and have seen that people are inspired to visit destinations they know from books, tv and film. With a range of interactive exhibitions, discovery trails, events and educational programmes, I have no doubt that Peter Pan will be sprinkling magical fairy dust and inspiring a new generation of visitors to the region for years to come.

In the words of J M Barrie himself - “So come with me where dreams are born and time is never planned……” an adventure truly does await at Moat Brae.