THE star of Downtown Abbey Hugh Bonneville has donated his family's Lego collection to New Milton Library.

Staff at the library heard Mr Bonneville on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs admitting that he needed to sort through the family's 'vast' Lego collection and made contact to lend him a hand.

Mr Bonneville - who also featured in Mr Stink and Paddington - gave the personal collection for visitors of the library, based at Gore Road.

It is hoped children, aged four to 11, who are members of the library's construction club will enjoy playing with the star's bricks.

They meet every fortnight from September at the library.

Councillor Andrew Gibson, Hampshire County Council's executive member for culture, recreation and countryside, said: "The library staff got in touch with Hugh, and it was a pleasant surprise when they received a call to set up a date to pay them a visit.

"We're very grateful that Hugh could come down with the family Lego and I know the staff and children at New Milton library were thrilled to meet him."

Construction clubs are fast becoming popular at libraries across the county giving children the opportunity to make new friends and develop skills using Lego and Duplo.

New Milton's club runs every other Thursday from 4.30-6pm, though some clubs work on a drop-in basis.

Children can also sign up to this year's summer reading challenge - the Big Friendly Read at Hampshire libraries - and join over 21,000 children who are reading six books to get a medal and a certificate, by September 18. Those children who finish the challenge will also be given the chance to design a brand new library card which will be used by thousands of children across all Hampshire libraries.