A HAMPSHIRE stately home has reopened today after its cellar was ravaged by floods.

Water was waist-high in the basement of Hinton Ampner House on Wednesday as heavy rain battered Hampshire.

The estate near Alresford was forced to close on Thursday as flooding reached the electrics and damaged floors and walls.

Staff will also have a busier build-up to Christmas than usual as many of the house’s handmade decorations were damaged or destroyed.

Louise Washington, visitor experience officer, said: “It was just the sheer amount of water that came down on Wednesday. We lost our roof a year-and-a-half ago, so we’ve got a lot of storage down in the cellar.

“We’ve now got quite a drying-out process. All the floors are boarded and I think it’s going to take quite a long time for the walls to dry.”

Doors were reopened on Friday after firefighters drained gallons of water from the basement. Sandbags were deployed by Winchester City Council.

“The whole place was closed yesterday,” Ms Washington added. “It’s now fine – we’ve had the electrics out and it’s all been sorted out.

“It’s never flooded before. I think this was just the fact that we had four hours of rain that just didn’t stop."

The 18th century house has survived previous downpours despite heavy flooding in the nearby villages of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner.