The Church of England has backed down from selling off a family's home after the Oxford Mail stepped in.

Francis and Fiona Barber and their three children faced being kicked out of their home in Kelmscott, near Witney, at the end of the month.

But the Church Commissioners say they will now accept the couple's offer to buy. The Barbers have lived there for 12 years and it's the only home Thomas, 11, Lewis, nine, and Francesca, six, know.

In a statement the Commissioners said: "We have carefully considered all the circumstances. We have decided to sell to the present occupiers, Mrs and Mrs Barber."

But the backdown may be too late - the couple are already well down the path of finding a new home. Mrs Barber said: "Frankly, we have been seriously messed about. The last few months have been like torture.

"We were faced with being evicted and had to look around, including finding new a new school for the children in September.

"Maybe their conscience has now pricked them to change their mind. But it could be too late." The couple originally put in an offer of £110,000 but the Commssioners' agents, Cluttons of Oxford, turned it down and put the house on the open market.

The Commissioners now say the offer is good enough. The statement adds that they attach "great importance to following good practice as responsible landlords".

The Commissioners, a London-based arm of the Church of England, are one of the country's largest landowners, with more than 51,000 hecatres of agricultural property, including 360 farms.

The Barbers' home was originally tied to a local farm but then rented out. Mr Barber runs a self-employed landscape gardening business from the cottage.

Mrs Barber added: "We shall make a decision in the next few days. While they have been dithering, we have not. They could have prevented all this by accepting our offer in the first place.

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