A FAMILY whose home was destroyed by a New Year’s Day blaze have spoken of their joy at being able to return – just in time for Christmas.

Property developers Tony and Vivien Smith were toasting 2010 on a winter break in Sharm El Sheik, in Egypt, when a neighbour called to say their home and holiday cottage business had gone up in flames.

Firefighters were unable to reach Bowlees Farm, near Wolsingham, County Durham, due to heavy snow.

The couple and their tenyear- old son, Jonathan, returned to a scene of devastation and £500,000 worth of damage.

They were heartbroken, having lost all their possessions, and they spent 2010 in temporary accommodation.

Mr Smith said: “Vivien lost her wedding rings, jewellery, photographs, everything.

“I even took my golf clubs out of the workshop to dry off in the house.

“The only thing we got out of the fire were the rabbits, Hayley and Fudge, who were in the garage and they were saved.

“We came back to absolutely nothing at all.”

An investigation by the fire service revealed the blaze had started in a fridge freezer.

It was the second fire at the property that week, after the hot tub in a spa outbuilding went up, causing £90,000 of damage, on Christmas Day.

“Everybody treated us extremely well under the circumstances – you don’t have two fires in a lifetime, never mind two in a week,” he said.

Fellow pupils from Jonathan’s school clubbed together to buy him new clothes, but Mr Smith said he had hoped for more support from the community.

“We were upset,” he said.

“We had a few friends who gave us a few old clothes, but apart from that, nothing.

“People thought we were in a much better situation than we were.”

Mr Smith said getting the home ready in time for a family Christmas had become a psychological battle, which saw him working 12 hours a day.

“It felt like a tonne of bricks had been lifted off my shoulders on Christmas Day, I had been working so hard,” he said.

“We were all together and we’ll be spending New Year’s Day together.

“We’re not going anywhere now for a long time.”

He said the family, including older son, Ben, 24, are looking ahead to the new year and a new start.

Mr Smith said: “It has been the hardest time of our life but we have come out of it stronger people.

“I’m looking forward to rebuilding our lives and getting back to exactly where we were – back to normality.”

“It has been a really, really tough year and I hope 2011 will be a much better year than the one we have just had.”