A farmer has told of his relief after a fire that tore through his 600 tonne heap of manure narrowly missed his crop field.

Neil Pieman, who runs Green Farm in Birdbrook Road, Stambourne, said it that it would have cost him an entire harvest if the fire had spread to his wheat barley field just three metres away.

The fire started when warm weather heated up the manure at the bottom of the pile and three fire crews from Halstead and Clare tackled the flames for nearly five hours on Tuesday 1 July.

Mr Pieman said: “The worst case scenario would have been losing a hundred tonnes of barley, which would cost about £12,000 so I’m relieved we didn’t - it was a bit of a worry.”

For the full story, see this week's Halstead Gazette.