Farmer donates field for hospice

A farmer has donated a seven-acre site for a new children's hospice to be built on in Cornwall.

An eight-bedroom unit is planned for the land at Porthpean near St Austell which was donated by Howard Rosevear.

The unit will offer care and respite to children with life limiting illnesses and their families.

More than £1m has been raised towards the £5m unit by the Children's Hospice South West (CHSW), including £130,000 from BBC Radio Cornwall listeners.

I wanted to do something for the community Howard Rosevear

Soon after becoming a tenant farmer 41 years ago, Mr Rosevear bought the land he had been working on including the field that is now to become the site for the children's hospice, depending on planning permission.

Mr Rosevear told BBC News: "In my twilight years I wanted to do something for the community.

"I was very lucky to get the tenancy so I talked it over with my wife and we decided to give this land to charity."

The first CHSW hospice, Little Bridge House, was built in 1991 at Fremington, near Barnstaple, north Devon.

CHSW also has a hospice at Wraxall in Somerset.

Eddie Farwell, co-founder of CHSW, said a Cornish hospice would save the long journeys for people who cannot drive or have difficulty travelling to north Devon.

He said: "We are absolutely thrilled, it's a super site."

Another charity, Ellie's Haven, is hoping to build a holiday park for sick children in Cornwall.

Nigel and Julie Libby, who have a terminally-ill three-year-old daughter Ellie, have been given a site in Looe.