While most of us will be enjoying Christmas in front of our own hearths this year, spare a thought for the victims of the Holborough Lakes fire.

The blaze that ripped though the Berkeley Homes development in Snodland early one Saturday morning left 22 apartments uninhabitable and 43 people homeless back in September.

Initially put up by Berkeley in local hotels, all the tenants are now in semi-permanent lodgings, or have moved in with relatives and friends, while waiting for their homes to be rebuilt.

Andrea Bullman lost everything in the fire. The 45-year-old lived in the flat beneath where the fire started and has been back only once since.

Berkeley allowed her to climb back in with a ladder because the staircase had been destroyed.

She said: “The front room, kitchen and balcony had completely gone. What was left was covered in black soot. It looked like Miss Havisham’s house.”

Mrs Bullman is living in a flat in south east London, nearer to her work as an executive assistant in the City, with the rent paid for by the building’s insurers.

She said: “I very much want to move back when the block is rebuilt – they say that might be 18 months off – but I felt I wanted to be away in the meantime.

“I’ve been very up and down. I went back to work immediately after the fire, because I wanted to take my mind off it.

“I’ve come to terms with it now. You just have to think we were all so lucky no one was hurt.”

Mrs Bullman plans to spend Christmas with her parents but in the meantime there has been one bit of good news.

She said: “The Holborough community rallied round and donated money to a fund for those of us who lost our homes.

“I’ve just received a cheque for £350, which was a lovely
surprise and a wonderful Christmas present.”

An investigation by Kent Fire and Rescue Service found the fire started on the balcony of a third-floor apartment in Pollyfield Close, but was unable to determine the cause.