Forty firefighters battled a blaze at Glebe House, in Northiam, near Rye, for more than four hours after Nigel Anthrobus, his family and two guests fled the eight-bedroom Victorian mansion.

Mr Anthrobus, surveying the damage later, said: "It's been a harrowing few hours for the whole family but without the efforts of the fire brigade it could have been a lot worse.

"Thanks to them, the damage was mainly kept to the roof section. We were very lucky."

Mr Anthrobus said he, his wife, four children and the guests all left the building safely after smoke detectors warned them of the fire.

A14-year-old boy was treated for a burn to the hand but was later discharged from the Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

The roof section of the 1830 house was still smouldering today as fire experts started to investigate the cause of the blaze.

At its height, flames leapt from the roof.

It is thought the fire started in one of the rooms in a four-bedroom loft conversion before quickly spreading across the roof.

Hastings fire station officer Dave Yates said: "We had the first call at 1.30 this morning and crews from Broadoak and Rye did an excellent job containing the fire.

"When the other crews arrived we began a salvage operation and removed as much furniture and valuables from the property as we could."

Part of the roof of the secluded building, in woodland on the edge of the A28, was destroyed and severe damage was caused to the loft conversion.

Furniture worth thousands of pounds, some of it antiques, was saved.

Fire badly damaged a building used to store machinery and fertiliser at the East Sussex National Golf Course in Uckfield early today.

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