At about 5pm on Sunday 5th August, a fire started in the parkland behind our house and within minutes had swept into our garden, along with about 15 of our neighbours’.  The whole street was evacuated to a nearby social club and the last we saw was the huge tree behind our house on fire and the thick smoke completely enveloping the street.  About 4 hours later, we were informed by the police that the fire brigade had the fire under control and that their herculean effort and saved all houses from major damage but that there was a huge amount of destruction to a number of gardens.  We were allowed back into our house around midnight whilst the fire brigade continued checking for embers and continuing to water the properties for another 18 hours.

We woke up to see our whole garden had been affected – I’d lost my office and the contents within, my husband lost his shed and the full contents of that, our fences, lawn and all of my plants and flowers were also destroyed.  We were both devastated and completely relieved – no-one had been hurt, our home had only minor damage but we’d lost so much.

The next few days were a bit of a blur – I think we were in a bit of shock, there was lots of admin to be done and the start of a lot of appointments with insurance people, various contractors, tree surgeons etc and it wasn’t until the Wednesday that I properly checked on my rose when I was sweeping up some glass.  It was completely burned apart from a tiny bit right at the bottom that was brown instead of black!’