A couple has cheated death when part of their holiday home crumbled 30ft down a cliff, just inches from where they were sleeping.
Retired builder Brian Haines, 60, and partner Christine Haywood, 49, woke at 3am to the sound of rumbling but assumed it was a lorry and went back to sleep.
But when they arose later on Monday morning they found part of the patio had been dragged away by a landslide in Whitby, North Yorkshire.
Close call: The patio of the holiday home in Whitby crumbled away, just inches from where Brian Haines and Christine Haywood were sleeping
Miss Haywood said there had been no warning of the landslide when they went to bed.
"Everything was absolutely fine, everything was perfect. There werelovely views over the harbour and we couldn"t have picked a betterplace to stay really.
"Then we got up at about 7.30am and opened the curtains to see that thepart of the patio had just disappeared down the cliff and some of thefence was hanging off as well.
Cheating death: The couple were forced to cut their holiday short but say they feel very lucky to be alive
"It was a big surprise. I couldn"t believe it. We called the owner totell her what had happened and she was so shocked, just as we were. Itwas just a natural disaster."
But the shaken couple from Matlock, Derbyshire, still can"t believe their narrow escape.
"When we look at the pictures now and think about what happened I justthink if more of the patio had gone it would have taken the house withit," Miss Haywood said.
"We were probably only about a foot away from where it all went away and we were very lucky that no more of it fell."
The couple were forced to cut their winter break short by five days.The owner of the picturesque holiday home rushed to the scene with asurveyor and structural engineer to assess the safety of the property.
Heavy snow and rain had hammered the home"s balcony and leftit weakened, prompting the collapse which resulted in rubble, mud andlarge pieces of masonry tumbling 30ft down the cliff.
Miss Haywood, a part-time carer, said when they returned to fetch theirbelongings there was a sign on the door which read: "Danger, do notenter."
"We went and took our stuff and the police advice was that it justwasn"t safe to stay," she said.
More...No wonder they got it cheap: Clifftop home loses its garden just six days after new owner paid bargain price of 150,000
"We were supposed to be staying for a week so itwas quite disappointing to have our holiday cut short but, we"ve beento Whitby before, and when you think of what happened it could havebeen so much worse."
The landslide in Whitby comes just days after a homeowner paid 150,000 for a clifftop property, only to have part of the garden collapse in a massive rock fall.
The large six-bedroom property wassold for the bargain price because of its precarious positionoverlooking Oddicombe Beach in Torquay, Devon.
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