Fifty fire fighters from across Oxfordshire and Berkshire fought a blaze at a country house through the night.

Firemen pumped water from West Challow’s village duckpond to help stop the fire spread through the empty property, saving it from being destoryed.

Fire crews from Wantage rushed to the fire in Silver Lane, West Challow at shortly before 4:30pm on Thursday, with the area not declared safe until almost 5am the next morning.

When they arrived, fire had already ripped through the roof of the three-storey house, which was empty for rennovations.

Firemen from Lambourn, Didcot, Faringdon, Wallingford, Abingdon, Oxford, Woodstock, Wheatley, Eynsham and Kidlington were also called the scene as the scale of the incident became apparent.

One neighbouring property was evacuated, and no-one was injured.

At its height of the blaze, more than 50 firemen used five fire engines and specialist equipment to get the fire under control.

Incident commander Gary Coupar said: “When we arrived the building was already well alight with flames coming of the roof.

“We used a lot of resources and the firefighters worked really hard to confine the fire to the roof space, although there was some damage to the rest of the property.”

Fire investigation officers are remain on the scene this morning.

The cause of the blaze is unknown, but arson is not suspected.