A village near Bordon is in shock as the roof of a thatched cottage has been destroyed in an ongoing fire.

Firefighters from two counties are dampening a fire which broke out around 10am this morning at a cottage near Oakhanger village green.

The owners, who were alerted by a smoke alarm, are being comforted by neighbours after managing to safely escape.

But the roof of the picturesque property has been destroyed with crews likely to remain at the scene well into the afternoon.

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Flames could still be seen around 1pm, with the alarm first being raised at 10am. (Iliffe Media/Paul Ferguson)

Ron Sansome, area manager for Hampshire Fire & Rescue Services, said extra crews had to be deployed to the scene because of the severity of the blaze.

He said: “Due to the scale of the fire more resources were required – we had 12 pumps and appliances at the height of the fire along with two water carriers and command infrastructure.

“We’ve contained the fire to the property and we scaled back our response to seven units by just before 1pm.

“We were also able to help the owners salvage as many items as we could, things like medication and reports.”

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The road through Oakhanger village centre remains closed between the pub and church (Iliffe Media/Paul Ferguson)

The salvage operation was continuing around midday with numerous items from the ground floor being taken to neighbouring properties and the village hall.

Neighbours have also offered help and assistance to the owners while the affected section of Oakhanger Road – from The Hanger Free House to St Mary Magdalene church - remains closed at the time of the writing with both police and ambulance crews in attendance.

It is too early to establish the cause of the blaze, more follows.