A DOZEN fire crews fought for nearly 12 hours to limit the damage to one of West Somerset most historic pubs, the 16th century Farmer’s Arms at Combe Florey, when its thatched roof and first floor caught fire on Wednesday afternoon

Owner Tim Young, who has run the pub for 18 months, was not in the building at the time but was alerted that the roof was on fire.

He said that firefighters had managed to save the kitchen area and limit the worst damage to the top of the building.

A neighbour who saw smoke and flames coming from the roof called the fire brigade at 3.30pm and firefighters were tackling the blaze 20 minutes later.

By 10pm, firefighters from as far afield as Honiton, Exeter, Yeovil and Burnham-on-Sea had joined crews using breathing apparatus to remove burning thatch from the roof.

At midnight the operation was scaled down but some crews stayed on duty overnight and into yesterday morning (Thursday).

The A358 main road was closed and traffic tailed back in both directions for nearly half a mile and was diverted through Elworthy and Monksilver. The road was reopened later in the evening.