A mother has described the torment she and her family have experienced after a house fire forced them out of their home and destroyed their belongings less than a month before Christmas.
Kat Coldwell and her four children were living at a privately rented home on Rectory Road, Wood Norton, near Fakenham but when she arrived back at the house on Thursday November 29, she discovered a fire in the kitchen.
The exact cause of the electrical fire is still being investigated but Ms Coldwell and her children lost many precious belongings and she has pleaded with people to make sure their smoke detectors are working.
Ms Coldwell said: 'There was nobody else at home, I came home to it to see the dog and cat inside so I went in and got them.
'We're all kind of split up a bit at the moment. It's devastated them, they've got nothing.
'All their little bits, their nick nacks, their clothes, their toys, their beds. It's where are we going to go? What are we going to do at Christmas?
'My little boy doesn't understand why he can't play with his dinosaurs and can't understand why he hasn't got his own toys. My two middle girls look like they've lost everything. It's not really me, it's them.
'Go down and check your smoke detectors, the smoke detectors didn't work properly in the house. It could have easily been somewhere we couldn't have got out of.'
Since the fire, Ms Coldwell has been overwhelmed with support from the local community including collections at the All Saints Stibbard Nursery and Childcare Centre, where her son attends and which is next to the primary school one of her daughters attends.
A GoFundMe page has also been set up by friend Michelle Young, with Ms Coldwell planning to give some of the money to the fire service and to buy smoke detectors which they can hand out for free at events.
She added: 'The nursery, the school, the high school have all been amazing. Everybody has.
'You don't realise how big your community is until something like this happens.
'Wood Norton as a village gave me some emergency funds. You can't kind of cope with how many people offer support.
'I know more people in Wood Norton than I ever have.'
To donate, visit the GoFundMe page.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here