Joanna Lumley 'heartbroken' by Peter Pan house closure

Award-winning actress Joanna Lumley has said she is "heartbroken" at the imminent closure of a Dumfries mansion which helped inspire JM Barrie to write Peter Pan.

The Absolutely Fabulous and Fool Me Once star is a patron of the trust which saved Moat Brae from demolition and turned it into a children's literature centre.

It recently announced the building will shut on 23 August in the face of continued losses, rising costs and low visitor footfall.

Ms Lumley said she hoped a solution could be found in order to allow the property to reopen its doors.

The Georgian mansion was just days away from demolition and redevelopment in 2009 when the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust (PPMBT) stepped in.

Ms Lumley regularly assisted with its fundraising campaign to generate the millions of pounds needed to convert it into a children's literature centre, which finally opened 10 years later.

She also visited the property on a number of occasions.

The site was shut by Covid shortly after it opened to the public and has struggled financially since then, culminating in the announcement of its closure.

Ms Lumley said that efforts had already started to try to allow the building to reopen to the public.

"I am heartbroken that Moat Brae has had to close its doors," she said.

"Many people are trying to think of ways to keep this beautiful and important historical building open and filled with children.

"Reading and learning about literature are the bedrock of education and provide essential escapism for people of all ages, but most especially for children, and I shall keep my fingers crossed that some solution will be found."

Ms Lumley said there were also important historical reasons to keep the building open.

"The place where Peter Pan was born should be celebrated and the name of JM Barrie kept alive," she said.

"I wait, like Mrs Darling at the nursery window, to see if love and life will return to Moat Brae."