Pictured with Jessie May nurses Steve Wiltshire and Samantha Robinson is Terri Hayes-Pugh (centre) of Cotswold Homes which is supporting the hospice at home service provided by the charity.

A South Gloucestershire housebuilder has stepped in to help local families take a break from exhausting round-the-clock care of children with terminal cancer.

Yate-based Cotswold Homes Ltd has paid for professional nurses from Jessie May – which provides hospice at home care for terminally ill children – to take over for three hours in two homes while the children’s parents take the young patients’ siblings out for a treat or to do some early Christmas shopping.

Praising Cotswold Homes’ support, Jessie May’s corporate partnerships officer Lindsey Horton said she hopes more local businesses will follow the firm’s example by providing the financial support needed to help the charity provide more so-called ‘respite days’ for families. To offer help call the charity on 0117 961 6840.

Terri Hayes-Pugh, head of sales and marketing at Cotswold Homes, added: ‘We’re very aware of our corporate social responsibility and always aim to support local families. We’d encourage everyone to visit the Jessie May website to see the wonderful service they provide.’

The area served by Kingswood-based Jessie May closely matches that in which Cotswold Homes is creating versatile new homes for families, first-time buyers and retired couples seeking a high-specification new home with no hidden extras.

Currently the firm is building new homes in Corsham and the nearby Wiltshire village of Broughton Gifford as well as Mangotsfield in South Gloucestershire.

Soon the wraps will come off plans for other new schemes in Chipping Sodbury and the village of Tytherington near Thornbury. For details of these developments visit www.cotswoldhomes.co.uk, email enquiries@cotswoldhomes.co.uk or call 01454 335 930.