An award-winning restaurant, forced to close just a year ago after a devastating fire, will be back in business on September 18, the owners announced this week.

Reeves, a fine-dining restaurant in a listed building in Dunster, has been owned by chef Justin Reeves and his wife Claire for nearly 20years.

They escaped uninjured with their family after the blaze destroyed the kitchen and seriously damaged the rest of the building on September 5 last year.

The fire was traced to a self-combusting tumble-dryer in a ground-floor room in the restaurant and was estimated to have caused around £400,000 worth of damage and made the building uninhabitable.

In the past year, well-wishers and the Dunster community have rallied round the family during the massive rebuilding, providing practical and financial aid, accommodation and personal, financial and business support.

In an online message, Mrs Reeves said that much of the cash support from the community had been anonymous and the donors couldn’t be thanked in person, “but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Before the re-opening, there will be a special thank you evening for those who have supported the family through the last traumatic year.

Mr Reeves said this week: “We are delighted to announce that we are reopening on September 18 and are now taking bookings.

“Our gratitude is infinite - thank you to everybody for your support, love and friendship over the last 12 months. It has been remarkable and has buoyed us up more than words can say.

“We are so truly blessed to have you all onside and will never forget your generosity in easing our journey.

“It will not be long now before we are back doing what we know best and we are looking so forward to it. We have missed our vocation, we have missed all of you and we have missed the routine.

“We want to start giving back to the community.”

The couple were awakened by a fire alarm shortly before 1 am and found “thick, acrid, black smoke” coming from the tumble dryer with flames quickly spreading to the kitchen.

Mrs Reeves remembered: “The fire funnelled up the stairs and created massive smoke damage. It seeped in everywhere, and there were no hiding places.”

After the family had safely left the building, explosions could be heard inside.

Investigators later found that residual heat in the tumble dryer caused the fire, despite the machine being switched off.

Fire-fighting crews from Minehead, Williton and Taunton spent eight hours bringing the blaze under control, which destroyed two kitchens and caused massive smoke damage to the restaurant and living accommodation.

Surveying the damage the next morning, which he described as “truly breathtaking,” Mr Reeves paid tribute to local firefighters, who “entered the blazing inferno which was our restaurant and home, risking their lives in the process.”

He added: “There will never be enough words to express our gratitude for their bravery, dedication and personal sacrifice.”