Overview

Moatbrae House and gardens where J.M.Barrie played as a boy , and inspired him to write Peter Pan, has recently been renovated from falling into ruins. It was recently voted one of the top 50 coolest places for kids in the world to visit. The House has been restored and is mostly accessible. A bright and airy café has been added overlooking the river, and the gardens have been restored, some areas of which are accessible.Lots of things for kids to do, but we were just big kids for the day! I found some of the garden too steep to negotiate with my wheelchair, although the gardener came out and kindly offered to push me round. There are lifts to all floors, Some areas were tight to negotiate in the house, but it is a very old house! Staff in the café kindly offered to move furniture so we could sit overlooking the river and gardens. There is a charge to look around the house, but necessary companions enter for free. Entry to the gardens is free till the end of March if you purchase something in the very reasonably priced café. All the staff are volunteers, and went above and beyond to ensure we had a magical visit 🧚🏻‍♂️🧚🏻🧚🏻

Transport & Parking

Street parking, no designated accessible parking. Good drop off point, I got dropped off by taxi. Public bus stance a 5 minute walk away

Access

Excellent drop down and access to main entrance. Automatic door at main entrance and to gardens. Long ramp up to café , café a bit cluttered with tables, but staff met me right away and assisted to find a good seat. Good signage throughout. Lift to all floors quite small, but room for a chair and another person, what I didn’t like about the lift was that with no room to turn, on 2 of the floors you were reversing out to the top of a staircase. I like the fact they had an alarm system on each floor beside the lift for disabled to use to access help. Seating throughout the building available for a rest. Many areas had auditory explanations for those with visual problems It is an old house, so some areas upstairs would be too narrow for a larger power chair to navigate Gardens have a good smooth path, but there is a very steep hill which would need a strong pair of hands to get back up. All areas with steps had railings

Toilets

Huge,plenty space to manoeuvre , all the usual grab rails, clean and fresh . Red cord in situ. No changing places toilet

Staff

Staff very friendly and helpful, as mentioned they are all volunteers. I was meeting my niece there, so the minute I entered the building, I was approached by Barbara to see if I needed any assistance. I was offered help throughout ( my niece had her hands full with a baby and a pram) I was offered help to go around the house and gardens, but we managed on our own. Staff regularly checked that we were all right, whilst we were exploring.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

You can visit the café independently of the house without charge , I will definitely be popping in for a coffee, it’s hard to find places in Dumfries that you can pop in on your own that are accessible, and the views from the café are a big plus. It is very magical, lots of stuff for kids, a stage with scripts and props, that they can put on their own performance., books, interactive rooms, Adventure trails in the garden etc. They put events on too, such as sensory reading sessions , junior reading sessions etc , these are listed on their website under ‘What’s happening’ https://www.peterpanmoatbrae.org/little-story-pirates/

Photos