Somewhere over the rainbow

This yellow brick road winds its way around the garden at Julia's House in Corfe Mullen, a garden where you will find a mermaid reclining on the bank, a sensory walkway that in summer seems to cut through the treetops, a peaceful trellis-screened area with a gently bubbling water feature, and an adapted playground with swings and rockers that children of all abilities can play on.

On a clear day, from the patio, you can see right across Poole Harbour to the Purbeck hills.

Inside the house, there's a nautical link with the Jurassic coast the house overlooks in the décor.

The walls and floors suggest beaches and shores - pebbles set into the floor in the conservatory and the reception counter, hessian flooring resembling shingle or sand, walls painted in shades of aquatic blue and life buoys and toy boats dotted around the three bedrooms on the second floor.

It's a beautiful setting and a lovely place to visit, but the families who come here perhaps have more reason to appreciate it than most.

Julia House is a children's hospice that caters specifically for Dorset families and is funded entirely by its own efforts backed by the generosity of people from Dorset and the surrounding counties (Rockbourne Fairs has been a contributor) and the business community.

The hospice, which currently offers respite day care for life-limited and life-threatened children from all over Dorset, celebrates its first birthday next week but the charity, also called Julia's House, has been in existence for four years.

It was named after paediatric nurse Julia Perks, who recognised that these children and their families needed far greater support than was possible within the current limits of the health service.

Sadly, she died of breast cancer before she could realise her dream and it was left to her family and friends to make it a reality.

Community fundraiser Lin Hudswell explains: "The plan was for a purpose-built hospice, but with the cost of funding premises, we stepped back and made a decision that we could deliver care to families in their own homes, which we have been doing for four years now."

The charity co-ordinates a community respite service matching carers to families, who provide respite and a much-needed break from many of the pressures facing families with children who might never reach adulthood.

Currently they are able to help around 70 families in the county.

Anne Smith is the community team leader for north Dorset, which includes Ringwood, Verwood, Ferndown, Alderholt and Blandford.

Previously a sister in the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton, she has been with Julia's House for two years and co-ordinates a bank of carers looking after 21 families in her area.

"Each carer is allocated to a family and trained specifically for the needs of that family," she says.

"They go in and take over the role of parent, so that the parent gets the chance of some downtime from the physical care of their child.

"The majority of families and carers build up a close relationship - if the parent needs to go out they have to feel confident that the carer will look after their child as well they would."

Tina Albray's daughter Saffron, 9, has a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

She has three carers, who visit the Albray home in Verwood on a rota once a week for three hours and two evenings a week.

"It means I can go off and do my shopping," says Tina.

"Saffron has got to know them, which is important to her.

"Leaving her is very hard, but you can't just get a babysitter in because of all the tubes and care she needs.

"You need someone as good as yourself, another mum."

While the charity delivered care into the community, the search went on for premises.

Julia's House was derelict when the charity found it, a large building of indeterminate pedigree, but with huge potential.

Purchased by The Valentine Trust for the charity, it had to be gutted and virtually rebuilt.

"We've opened the interior up, but tried to keep it homely," says Lin.

"These children spend enough time in hospital - we want them to feel at home."

The ground floor has a family area used for dining and watching TV with a conservatory beyond.

Next door is an activities room full of touch screens, games and toys with a multi-sensory room where bubble tubes, fibre optic lights and mirror balls are used to stimulate or de-stress as required.

Currently, Julia's House is only able to offer day care to around 30 families, but a new fund-raising target of £1.2 million will enable the hospice to include some overnight stays from July and to open five days a week in the school holidays.

Up to six children at a time come in for a morning or afternoon session.

"Ultimately, we want to be able to open seven days a week, but it's a gradual build-up," says Lin.

"We need to be confident in our growth."

Like most children's hospices, Julia's House receives nothing in government funding - every single penny comes from the community.

The last major fundraising drive was the Yellow Brick Road Appeal to landscape and equip the garden.

Half of the £50,000 cost was pledged by the Greenfingers Appeal, who brought in Chelsea silver medallist Amanda Patten to design the garden.

The remainder came from people buying an inscribed £50 brick to building the yellow road in the front garden.

"It really captured people's imaginations," says Lin, who admits they were astonished at the speed at which the target was met.

At some point, gardening guru Alan Titchmarsh will be dropping in to open it.

A children's hospice, says Lin, is different from an adult hospice.

"Our children all have slow degenerative diseases, but we hope they will be with us for many years building happy memories."

• Julia's House is always pleased to hear from people who want to get involved with fundraising, or can volunteer to help with gardening or in its shop at Ferndown. Please call Lin Hudswell on 01202 640402 or log onto the website at www.julias-house.org.