Holidaymakers had to be evacuated to safety during a fire that has put a Mullion holiday cottage business out of action until May.

A fire broke out in the electrical room of Trenance Farm Cottages just before 3pm on Saturday.

Firefighters spent more than three hours putting out the blaze at the Nansmellyon Road business, which was fully booked for half term.

Tamara Tyler-Street, who runs the business with her parents Richard and Jennifer, said: "It was horrendous. I wasn't here, but my mum was. She was looking out the window at flames flying up through the roof.

"Luckily it happened in daylight, on Saturday afternoon, and not in the night."

All 12 cottages were full and Tamara had to rush round to find alternative accommodation for everyone staying.

She has also been forced to cancel all bookings until May, as the entire business has been left without electricity.

In addition, there is water damage to two of the cottages as a result of the firefighters tackling the flames, with a ceiling come down, although this is fortunately confined to a bedroom and a sitting room.

"It could have been a lot worse," added Tamara.

However, she said that although fire crews arrived "within minutes" they were forced to wait for Western Power to isolate the electrics before they could start battling the flames. As a result her mum, who is in her 70s, had to watch as the building burned before her eyes.

Firefighters from three different stations were called out to battle the fire.

Nine crew on two engines from Mullion, together with six firefighters from Helston, were initially sent. Back up from St Keverne was then called for 20 minutes later.

On arriving they found the power room of the building was full of smoke and electricity cables arching.

Once electricity engineers had arrived to isolate the power, the firefighters tackled the flames with a hose reel jet. A heat seeking camera was then used to find the source of the fire,

At 5.45pm crews from Mullion, Helston and St Keverne were still at the scene damping down.

It is not yet known how the fire started. Western Power was at the business on Monday assessing the situation.

Curio Spirits, which has just set up making gin in one of the farm buildings, is also understood to have been affected through the loss of electricity.