A COUPLE had a lucky escape when their home went up in flames.

Robin Sharman and his wife Rose were asleep in their cottage at Robinswood Farm, Bere Regis, when their son Peter, 36, who lives in a separate home on the same site, noticed smoke at around 7am.

Peter and Robin initially tried to fight the flames before realising it was impossible. More than 50 firefighters from across Dorset were called to tackle the blaze.

Peter said: “I came out at 7am, I thought I would go out for a cigarette, and there was 15ft of flames on top of the thatch.

“It took me a few seconds to realise what it was. I ran down and shouted to get them out of the house. It was quite shocking.

“My friend who was staying over phoned the fire service and opened up all the gates for the fire brigade to get in.”

Robin, 63, who runs his business Sharman Fencing from the farm, said: “My son came down shouting that there were flames on top of the thatch. I got out; I got three or four Co2 extinguishers and shot them at the thatch.

“My son Peter was up on the roof doing what he could with a pitiful little sprinkler.

“The worst thing is I spent £124 on a pair of wellies the other day and couldn’t get in to salvage them.

“It’s a bit of a pain to say the least.”

Firefighters were able to salvage many of the couple’s possessions and save half of the home, which has a tiled roof.

Dorset Fire and Service incident commander, Phil Allen, said: “When crews arrived the thatch was fully involved with fire.

“Crews did make an entry and forced their way into the attic area and the thatch was alight from the underside of the roof of the building.”

An investigation is underway into the cause of the blaze on Christmas Eve.

The fire and emergency support vehicle, run by Red Cross volunteers, was on hand to help the family.