Exploding plugs, broken computers and televisions, then total darkness was the aftermath of a lightning bolt which hit a Burford hotel.

New owners Paula and Graham Cox, who run Burford Lodge Hotel in Oxford Road, have been left picking up the pieces after the freak weather last Monday.

The couple were forced to close for a few days and have been left struggling to replace lighting and broken equipment, as well getting their email and telephone system up and running.

Mrs Cox said no-one was hurt in the incident, although she was knocked to the floor from the force of the lightning when it struck at about 6.30pm. She said: "It was all a bit of a laugh and a joke to start with.

"I have never heard or experienced anything like that - it was the kind of noise I imagined a bomb to make."

She said the hotel restaurant, which was full of customers, had to be evacuated because the lightning affected the power in the kitchen.

Mrs Cox said: "It has been a nightmare getting everything back up and running. We have been here less than a year so it is a real setback."

A spokesman for the fire brigade said two crews attended the hotel but the blaze, in a wooden office, was out.