THIS remarkable picture shows the huge amount of damage to a three-storey country house after it was gutted by fire.

At its height 12 crews from fire stations all over East Kent were fighting the blaze at the Old Rectory at Church Hill, Eythorne, near Dover.

The alarm was raised at about 5.15pm on Tuesday when flames were seen coming from the building.

When the first fire crew from Whitfield arrived they found the second and third floors of the building, as well as 50 per cent of the roof, well alight. The flames could be seen over a considerable distance.

It was not known at first whether anyone was in the detached country house but a spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service later said that no-one had been reported trapped, and confirmed that no-one was injured.

Roads through the village were closed as specialist vehicles were brought in to help with the fire fighting operations. One of them was a height vehicle which was used to search out any hot spots in the roof.

By 10.50pm most of the fire had been put out, and the incident was scaled down just before midnight when five crews remained at the scene.

Operations continued throughout the night to ensure that the fire was out, and at 5am part of the roof collapsed. A structural engineer has been called in to examine the building.

Relief crews were sent to the scene this morning and investigations are being carried out to determine the cause of the fire. Some roads in the area remained closed.

Among the firefighters who attended were crews from Dover, Deal, Eastry, Aylesham, Whitfield, Wingham, Canterbury, Folkestone, Faversham, Aldington and Ashford.