The Charity

Children's Hospice SW Little Bridge House

Jill and Eddie Farwell worked tirelessly to set up, build and sustain the only children's hospice in the south west region, Little Bridge House in North Devon, having lost two of their three children to a rare degenerative disease.  Tragically, Jill lost her battle with breast cancer last year.

Children's Hospice South West cares for two hundred families, but there are eight hundred children in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and South Gloucester with a life-limiting illness, so an appeal has been launched to raise £15 million to provide and endow with initial running costs a second hospice at Charlton Farm, set in the beautiful surroundings of Tyntesfield Estate near Bristol. The sister hospices will be safe havens of loving and highly professional care for the whole family, support never wavering through precious respite breaks and crisis points, continuing indefinitely when the inevitable grieving begins. Such commitment comes at an immense ongoing monetary cost.

It is hoped Charlton Farm will welcome the first children and their families in 2007 and thereafter £5 million per year will be needed to secure the provision of care from both hospices. It is believed that 8 sick children bedrooms and accompanying family rooms is the maximum size for a children’s hospice to ensure it is a true home. There will be four spacious sitting rooms, a multi-sensory room, a Jacuzzi, teenage facilities and a meditation chapel. Large outdoor gardens will give plenty of space for all sorts of play activities with an indoor winter garden for when it’s too cold to venture out.