Family razed their 400-year-old dream cottage to the ground just three days after moving in - when wood-burning stove set fire to its thatched roof

The Purdy family from Hertfordshire had barely settled into their 400-year-old £865,000 dream home when it burned to the ground in a blaze earlier this month after the thatched roof caught fire. The family had wanted to warm up the
five-bedroom property so lit their wood-burner for the first time since moving in. But the thatched roof caught fire, right, and flames spread throughout the cottage, which burned for hours. Now Paul Purdy, 38, his wife Sophie, 32 and their children Oliver, three and one-year-old Madeleine, are homeless for Christmas. A fund-raising drive has now been set up to support the family, and so far, close to £3,000 has been donated. Mrs Purdy said: 'We are absolutely devastated and have lost everything.'