A family is appealing for help after a devastating fire destroyed buildings and all their winter animal feed at their smallholding.

Scott Modha desperately tried to salvage bales of hay but was beaten back by the flames and smoke.

The blaze at the smallholding run by the Modhas off Brook Street, Woodchurch, on Saturday has left them with no winter feed or equipment for their animals.

Mr Modha has launched a Facebook appeal for donations of hay, headcollars, leadropes and rugs for their 10 horses, most of which were rescued after being abandoned, badly treated or were under threat of being put down. The family also has chickens and cats.

They could not get insurance because they have been broken into around a dozen times in the past eight years, the most recent being in June when their gates were damaged.

Mr Modha, a sales manager, said: “We are quite devastated. We have lost all our winter feed which we will need when the weather turns.”

He was visiting his parents Tully and Debbie Modha, when the fire started at around 2pm.

“I was working with my father behind the stables clearing drainage ditches when I saw smoke coming from somewhere,” he said.

“I looked into the hay store and there was smoke inside. I ran round to the front of the building and tried to put the fire out with a hose.

“I managed to get a few bales out but the fire started spreading so I had to get out.

“I tried to save what I could, throwing hay out into the field in front of the stables, but the fire was so hot it ended up catching the fence on fire as well as all of the items that I saved.”

The Modhas lost five stables, the feed and hay store and chicken coop, 160 regular size bales of hay, plus four large roundels of hay, which was all their winter feed, tack for the horses and other animal feed.

Firefighters from Ashford and Cranbrook were at the scene from 2.09pm to 5.05pm. They used water jets and a compressed air foam to tackle the blaze, which was well alight when they arrived.

Mr Modha said the cause may have been combustion of the hay.

“It was an incredibly hot day – 32 degrees – and the hay barn was a wooden building with a skylight,” he said. “It was something that none of us would have expected to happen. We are always so careful with the risk of fire.”

His family has had the smallholding for around 12 years. They have rescued horses, cats and chickens and all the animals have a home for life unless a suitable place can be found for them.

Their Facebook page, Help The Modha’s Rebuild Their Farm, has already generated a lot of response.

“We need feed, rugs, headcollars and leadropes,” said Mr Modha. “We could not salvage anything.

"If anyone would be willing to donate any spare items that we can make use of, from buckets to brushes, rugs to rakes, no matter how small the item, it will help us get up and running once more.”

People have already responded with donations of goods and cash and offers of help.

The family have set up a justgiving page for donations at crowdfunding.justgiving.com/modhafarm