Maria Woolner, 86, was asleep in an upstairs room at the property in Walcott when the fire broke out and is thought to have gone to help her husband, Roy, when she was overcome by the flames.

An inquest into her death held this week was told that Mr Woolner had been sleeping in a downstairs room because he suffered from Alzheimer's and it was safer for him not to use stairs.

Rescuers found him collapsed near a back door in the kitchen, where he had been trying to flee the property. He was taken to hospital but later recovered.

The aftermath of a fatal fire in Walcott in April(Image: Newsquest)

The couple had lived at the property, the Old Manor House, for eight years but had been trying for two years to sell it.

It had been on the market for £400,000 and they had recently accepted an offer and were preparing to move to a more manageable bungalow in North Walsham.

The inquest was told that the fire at the house - said to have been a holiday home for Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, the son of a 19th-century maharajah - broke out shortly after 4am on Saturday, April 19.

The alarm was raised by a neighbour who had got up to go to the bathroom and spotted a glow coming from the property.

He dialled 999 and fire crews from Stalham, Mundesley and North Walsham were on the scene, on Coast Road, within 30 minutes.

The aftermath of a fatal fire in Walcott in April(Image: Newsquest)

In a statement to Norfolk Coroner's Court, police officer Eleanor Moore described how Mr and Mrs Woolner had been removed from the building by firefighters and were being given first aid when she arrived.

“After a few minutes, the smoke from the building was getting overwhelming and making it very difficult to see and breathe,"........

© Eastern Daily Press