A Norfolk artist has lost his entire studio and hundreds of paintings after fire completely destroyed his renovated barn early this morning.
Early indications suggest a wood burner may have caused the fire which left only about 10pc of the barn, which had been converted into a studio, standing.
Tom Lamprell said he was awoken by his next door neighbour, who stormed into his bedroom at around 5.30am to tell his studio in Telegraph Hill, Honingham, near Dereham, was fully alight.
'I got woken up by my neighbour who could see it, so he came storming into my house,' he said.
'By the time I got down there the whole lot was ablaze. There must have been about 100 paintings in there.'
The 32-year-old said he was yet to count the cost of the blaze, but without insurance on the building or its contents it was unlikely he would receive any reimbursement for everything he'd lost.
'I'm still a little bit in shock I think,' Mr Lamprell said.
'The worst thing is just some of the sentimental pieces which I've held on to. Some pieces of work that I'd done with my kids and you know, just little pieces that I've kept and not sold. They're all gone.'
Among the paintings inside the studio was a piece which had been recently been sold for about £5,000 to an Australian buyer.
Mr Lamprell said he had been at the Telegraph Hill site for eight years since finishing his Bachelor of Arts at Byam Shaw School of Art in London.
Fire crews from Carrow, Sprowston, Earlham and a water carrier from Hethersett rushed to the scene to put out the fire.
A Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said nobody was in the barn at the time of the blaze.
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