A man who was confronted on his doorstep by a masked attacker with a knife hopes the incident will serve as a wake up call to his 'sleepy' village community.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said everyone needed to take measures to protect their property from criminals targeting rural communities.

His comments came after police released details of the shocking attack which happened at around 4.40pm in Sandy Lane, Belton.

The man described how he had returned home from work earlier than usual to see an unknown car outside his home.

Unbeknown to him another man was already at the back of the house.

'I got out of the car with shopping in my hands and walked to the front door,' he said.

'I put the key in the lock and looked left and there is a guy coming up the drive, masked, tall and with a kitchen knife in his hand.

'He said 'give me the keys and give me the watch.' I dropped everything as I had to keep my hands free and be prepared for the worst.'

He added: 'My wife opened the door and panicked and started screaming. The dogs came out and he backed off.

'I shouted at them 'get them boys', and he started waving the knife towards the dogs and dogs started barking, then a second man came from the back.'

As the men drove off the man ran after the vehicle, getting the first four digits of the number plate.

The car was later found abandoned in Gorleston.

'The main thing is they did not get anything and no-one was hurt,' he said.

'I take some scaring. There is no way they were taking anything off me, I would have wrestled him to the ground.'

He said people needed to be more vigilant in rural areas.

'The message needs to be 'do not be complacent' because you live in a sleepy village,' he said.

'People need to be aware that people are coming to these areas because we are not prepared because we think we live in a sleepy village.

'I just really hope that people in Belton will be more vigilant and realise we do not live in a safe rural area. You forget that there are people that want to take that from you.'

Anyone with information should contact DC Ashley Parker at Great Yarmouth CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.