A 20-year-old man was lucky to survive a fire which gutted a house in a Norfolk village and left the family devastated. When Alex Boulter opened his bedroom door on Thursday night he was “hit in the face by a wall of flames” but managed to run to safety.

A 20-year-old man was lucky to survive a fire which gutted a house in a Norfolk village and left the family devastated.

When Alex Boulter opened his bedroom door on Thursday night he was “hit in the face by a wall of flames” but managed to run to safety.

But Jes, the family's pet Trailhound, was not so lucky and died as the fire engulfed the 1802 barn conversion in Bramerton, south of Norwich.

Surveying the damage Alex's father, Graeme Boulter, an insurance underwriter, said: “Our holiday is over. You see fires in the papers and on TV, but you never expect it to happen to you.

“All we have left in world is what we are standing up in and we will have to throw away these clothes as we can't get the smoke out of them.”

The fire, which burned for more than five hours, started at about 11.30pm on Thursday while he and his wife were out for dinner.

Three fire crews were called to battle the flames which passed into neighbouring homes in the large converted barn development. Mr Boulter praised firefighters for their valiant efforts, adding: “They had a real problem getting access to the back of the house and they had to throw bricks at the windows as it was the only way to get hoses into the house.”

Firefighters removed a large portion of Mr Boulter's and his neighbour's roofs and everything in the house, including family photos, was carpeted in dust and soot.

Mr Boulter and his wife Jeanette stayed at the house until 3am before retreating to the Wood's End pub, which opened up specially for them. They will be staying temporarily at the home of family friends.

“The assessors think it will be at least a couple of months before we can move back in,” he said. “So I will be spending the New Year looking for a house to rent.”