It took nearly four hours – and 50 fire fighters- to bring a crop fire involving 200 acres of farmland under control.

The alarm was raised just after 4pm on Saturday when Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue were alerted to the fire at Haddenham.

“It was a well-developed fire involving around 200 acres of farmland, including bales, hedgerow and crops,” said a fire service spokesperson.

Crews from Cottenham, Ely, Cambridge, Littleport, Chatteris, March, Sawtry and Wisbech were among those called to the scene.

They were joined by the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade, Stanground, Dogsthorpe and the south roaming fire engine, along with the water carrier from Ramsey.

And a crew from Wickhambrook in Suffolk was also asked to attend.

"Firefighters worked tremendously hard throughout the afternoon to get the fire under control,” said the spokesperson.

“They began leaving the scene at around 8pm.”

Some stayed on to ensure the area remained safe.

Cambs fire and rescue said a prolonged period of hot and dry weather had seen more fires than usual this summer.

It was not dissimilar to 2018 when it was “hot for weeks with no rain, so we had a lot of fires just like this”.