About 3,500 holiday-makers and 400 staff were evacuated from the Center Parcs resort in Elveden Forest, near Thetford on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, last week after a fire swept through the 400-acre holiday complex.

The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen of Huckleberry's, a 300-seat restaurant in the resort, and one of seven restaurants to be destroyed. A catering assistant was reportedly treated for smoke inhalation, but there were no serious injuries.

Center Parcs said the holiday village would remain closed until a full assessment of the damage had been carried out.

It is the second serious fire to hit the company. In July 2000, a fire ravaged its De Eemhof holiday village in the Netherlands.