A farmer was today counting the cost after a fire destroyed his 18th century farmhouse.
Barry Hadden, of America Farm, Earls Colne, was returning home on Saturday evening when he saw flames coming from near to his home.
Mr Hadden, 44, said: "I could only have been half an hour from the house when the fire started.
"Luckily, my neighbour had already seen the flames and alerted the fire service.
"There was a 750-gallon container of heating oil, which was made of plastic.
"It slowly melted and the oil seeped out sideways, then whoosh up it went. I've never seen a fire like it."
Inside the farmhouse, constructed in the late 1700s, was farming machinery, tools and 60 bales of hay, weighing half a tonne each.
Firefighters from Braintree, Witham, Colchester and Coggeshall attended the blaze, which was not completely extinguished until mid-morning yesterday.
Published Monday August 16, 2004
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