by Tricia Jamieson

Children were camping just yards from a barn fire which destroyed 1,500 bales of hay.

They were attending a Pony Club camp at Acrise when the fire, which is being treated as arson, broke out in the early hours.

Fire crews have been praised for stopping the flames spreading to a diesel tank and other property.

The blaze destroyed a 15m by 5m barn filled with 1,500 bales of hay at Ridge Farm, Ridge Row.

A tractor which was in the barn had been tampered with, but was driven to safety by farmer Anthony Godden’s son-in-law Richard Goldup.

Mr Godden’s wife Susan said: “The fire crews did a brilliant job to stop the flames spreading.

“There is a diesel tank in front of the barn which they sprayed water on. They also stopped the flames spreading to other barns and we would like to thank them.

“If we had got our straw in, the main barn would have been filled with that.”

Children at the Pony Club camp were sleeping in tents in the same field as the barn when the fire started at 1.15am on Thursday (August 6).

One of the Goddens’ daughters Fiona, who was at the camp, helped raise the alarm.

“We all seemed to become aware of it at the same time and came piling out,” said Mrs Godden. “One of our daughters and her husband live in a house at the top of the road and they also heard it.

“A tractor which was in the barn had been tampered with, but our son-in-law managed to drive it out of the way.

“Some of the children at the camp were quite young and were scared by the flames but they all went back to sleep afterwards and passed their Pony Club exam the next day.”

Mrs Godden, who said they have not had any problems on the farm before, could not put a value on the damage until insurance assessors have been. The hay in the barn was winter feed for the farm’s cattle and horses.

Fire crews were at the scene damping down until about 2pm on Thursday.

The blaze is being treated as arson. Anyone with information should contact police on 01303 289180 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.