TV star Martin Clunes was in Wiltshire on Monday to officially launch plans to build the first children’s hospice in the county.

Julia’s House, which has a hospice in Dorset, has spent the last couple of years running a pilot service in south Wiltshire for Salisbury area families requiring respite care and has now officially launched its project to build a hospice in the county.

The charity is currently looking for a site in Devizes or Trowbridge and hopes to find one by late spring.

Chief executive Martin Edwards said: “The hospice needs to be in the centre of the county and needs to have good road networks in addition to public transport links because children will be coming here frequently, not just at the end of their lives.

“Nurses and carers will also be going to their homes as well to give parents a break.

“We have raised £1.2 million towards the £3 million target – it’s now about encouraging the public to come forward to fundraise, which will enable us to help children quicker in the county.”

Clunes, star of the comedy drama series Doc Martin and about to appear in a new series as Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, said: “There is a slight intake of breath when you hear the words ‘hospice’ and ‘children’ together but they are words you desperately do want to hear together because it’s such an uncatered for service.

“Julia’s House gets just under seven per cent funding from the government, which is mental.

“There is a massive need – I understand they are already seeing 13 families in Salisbury, so to have premises would be a fantastic thing for Wiltshire.”

The actor, who lives in west Dorset, added: “I became involved as a patron of the hospice eight or nine years ago.

“Most people don’t know about it. Luckily most people won’t hear about it because they don’t need to, but for the people that use it it makes a massive difference.”

Mr Edwards added: “Nobody provides the kind of service that we can – when our nurses and carers visit a home they will stay for several hours, whereas the NHS might come in to do a procedure and leave 20 minutes later.”

The official launch of the hospice project took place at a social gathering for families at the Salisbury and Wilts Golf Club.

The sessions are held regularly in Dorset and south Wiltshire to enable Julia’s House families to meet each other for a chat and a cuppa while their children enjoy a play session supervised by carers.

Visit juliashouse.org or call 01202 644220.