AN EAST Dorset man has paid tribute to his father, who died following a house fire in a village near Wimborne.

Stanley Duke, 93, was pulled by his elderly neighbour from a blazing cottage in Moor Crichel on January 10.

The retired farm worker was taken by ambulance to the intensive care unit at Poole Hospital, where he died three days later.

Now Mr Duke's son, Norman, who lives in the nearby village of Witchampton, has spoken of his father and the support of the local community.

The electronics engineer praised the actions of quick-thinking Dougie Fay, 76, who pulled his neighbour from the divided cottage they shared at Crows Nest Bungalows.

Julieann Davis and Tamsin Lancashire, grooms with nearby Crichel Stud, were also commended by Mr Duke for their attempts to revive his father.

Laurence Kennedy, of the Witchampton garage had been very supportive, said Mr Duke.

A picture of the bungalow taken by the Daily Echo in 2001 was one of the few possessions to survive the fire, he added.

The late Mr Duke had lived his entire life in the districts of the Crichel estate, said his son.

Work as a gardener at Crichel House in the years leading up to World War II had followed the late Mr Duke's marriage in 1934.

"He worked for Lord Alington.

"He looked after the Italian garden at the front of the house," said his son.

The needs of a nation at war took the gardener into the fields of the Crichel estate.

Mr Duke recalled an idyllic childhood in Crows Nest Bungalows, which will be demolished after irreparable damage from the fire.

"In the old days, when a harvest was a harvest, people would stop under the haystack for a picnic. It was the sort of thing you read about in books," he said.

But gardening remained his father's first love and the countryman tended his own garden until his death.

The elderly man retained his independence with regular checks from his granddaughter, and a Sunday roast cooked by his daughter-in-law, said Mr Duke.

The funeral is on Wednesday at Poole Crematorium.