Sue Dorey, who lives in St Peter’s, close to the Camp de Reves glamping site, was watching television at 9pm when she said she heard a ‘vague’ noise above the sound of the storm.
‘I thought I’d better quickly look and make sure everything was okay, but I wasn’t expecting this devastation,’ she said. ‘It was a miracle the horses were OK. How they weren’t harmed I’ll never know.’
A 30ft high leylandii tree had been blown over by the winds, crushing the stables in her garden which are home to three horses.
The roots of the tree had been ripped out of the ground and managed to almost knock down the gable end of a second stable where two other mares were housed.
Incredibly all five horses were okay, with the only injury a minor scratch to one horse’s face.
The horses had only been saved as the tree had been propped up on its greener branches, holding it just above them.
Four of the horses were able to be led straight out into neighbouring fields, but Lily was trapped in her stable.
‘A tree surgeon came really quickly and was able to cut away enough of the branches and she was free within an hour,’ said Mrs Dorey. ‘We’ve been in this house for 42 years and the tree has withstood the great storm of 87, Darragh and Ciaran. It must have just got hit by a sudden gust at just the wrong angle.’
Mrs Dorey said she was now waiting for a crane to be available to lift the tree, which had two metre-thick trunks, off the stable roof to see if what remained could be saved.
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