A FAMILY watched their £750,000 dream home go up in smoke while desperately trying to put out a blaze with a garden hose.

Nicolas Scrase, his wife Anna and their two sons escaped the fire unharmed but their converted four-bedroom Victorian barn was left wrecked by the flames.

Mr Scrase, 45, was at home with sons Harry, seven, and Rupert, five, when the fire broke out.

He said: "My wife Anna was going out for the evening and saw the fire.

"She ran back into the house and there were flames coming out of the roof.

"At that point the smoke alarm went off and we all ran out of the house.

"If it had happened at night the smoke alarm would have still gone off but it spread very quickly through the roofspace, I dread to think what could have happened."

Mr Scrase tried in vain to douse the flames with a thin spray of water from his garden hose until firefighters arrived.

Mr Scrase said: "It was pretty ineffective. I watched the whole thing but it didn't seem like it was happening at the time.

"It started in an extension and the firefighters almost had it out at one point, but then it spread to the main roof space and went through the house very quickly. There was quite a strong wind blowing."

More than 40 firefighters tried to put out a fire at the barn, called The Pump House, which is part of the remote Scrase Farm in Blackgate Lane, Pulborough.

Flames were shooting 15ft into the air and six fire engines were sent to fight the blaze, along with a water carrier.

Firefighters inside the burning building were pulled out when a ceiling started to collapse.

Almost all of the family's possessions, valued at £50,000, were destroyed.

The barn, which Mr Scrase helped to convert in 1987 and has been the family home since then, was gutted and will take about six months to rebuild, according to insurers.

Mr Scrase said: "We've had a lot of help from friends and we're staying in my mother's house, which is next door to ours on the farm."

He said the blaze could have started in the chimney or in the wiring.