A FAMILY was forced to flee from their home in just their nightclothes after fire ripped through the 17th century former miller's house in Washford in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Innes and Jo Gerrard and their three children, along with the family's two dogs, escaped unharmed from Abbey Mills in Abbey Road.

But they lost virtually all their possessions in the fire, which destroyed the roof of the grade two listed Crown Estate-owned property, gutted the first floor and left the downstairs rooms water damaged.

The blaze took hold as the family was sleeping.

Innes, who commutes to London weekly for his job in IT, spotted the flames licking through the roof after being woken shortly after 1am by Jo, a secretary at Minehead Hospital.

"I heard a rustling noise and I thought there was someone outside," said Jo.

"My husband got up to have a look and it was only then that he saw the flames coming through the roof."

Innes quickly roused 14-year-old William, Finlay, 12, and six-year-old Lucy while Jo went to get the dogs, who were in the kitchen and dining room annex, the only part of the house to escape damage.

"The lights went out before we got out of the house but I managed to grab my coat and my boots," said Jo. "Apart from that we had nothing."

Initially, the family's cat was nowhere to be seen but luckily he turned up later unharmed.

The couple had no mobile phones with them but by chance the son of a neighbour was driving past just as they were escaping from the house.

"He pulled in and rang the fire brigade for us," said Jo.

"He said he'd been able to smell the smoke as he was driving along the road - it was just so lucky he happened to be passing."

The family could then do little but wait for firefighters to arrive, watching a lifetime of possessions going up in smoke.

Crews from Williton, Minehead, Nether Stowey, Porlock, Bridgwater, Wiveliscombe and even as far as Ilminster were called to tackle the incident and were at the scene for almost seven hours.

The roof and first floor of the four-bedroom detached house were well alight by the time they arrived, with the roof collapsing shortly afterwards.

Firefighters were still tackling the blaze just before 5am when an incident support unit from Taunton was drafted in, along with a building inspector to assess the stability of the property following the roof collapse.

By 8am - more than six hours after the initial call - fire chiefs had scaled down the incident to just two appliances, with relief crews called in from Bridgwater and Dulverton.

The family, meanwhile, had been given shelter in the Red Cross victim support unit, which provided hot drinks and blankets until they were taken to a friend's house near Treborough.

They are hoping to move temporarily to Innes's father's bungalow in Williton next week, which was due to be let out.

"We were going to have it done up but the painter has gone in early and is decorating it for us," said Jo.

"People have been incredible and shown such kindness.

"We've had friends turning up with clothes and money - it's been amazing and we can't thank everyone enough.

"We've lost so much - all my jewellery is gone, all our clothes and the things that can't be replaced like photographs and family things.

"I lost my mum 12 years ago and I had some of her things, which are all gone now. But at least we are all safe."

The family moved from London four years ago and took over the tenancy of Abbey Mills just under two years ago.

"It had been completely refurbished by the Crown Estate and it was just beautiful," said Jo.

"They wanted a family to live in it and we had planned to stay there a very long time.

"Now we just don't know where we will be."

Investigations into the cause of the fire, which was accidental, are continuing.

A spokesman for the Crown Estate said the property, which is currently boarded up, had suffered significant damage.

"We are now working to secure the property and make it safe," he said.

"Fortunately, the tenants are safe and unharmed."