A SUMMERHOUSE went up in flames and was left badly damaged after fire burnt through its flammable structure.

Firefighters from Tiptree, Tollesbury and Colchester rushed to a property in Barnhall Road, Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, at about 11.45pm on Wednesday.

Upon arrival the trio of crews were confronted with a large outbuilding, measuring eight metres by six metres, which was ablaze.

After working to remove the roof tiles from the summerhouse, firefighters managed to extinguish the inferno by 12.30am, just over half an hour after arriving.

A photo shows the light-blue wooden building was left with a damaged roof.

Investigations are on-going into the cause of the fire with initital findings suggesting it was caused by an electrical fault.