ONLY the chimneys were left standing at the historic Hopkins Hill homestead after it was devastated by fire on the weekend.
Owner Bob Conn moved into the 158-year-old Allansford house earlier this year after purchasing the house in late 2010.
Mr Conn, 67, and his partner were dividing their time between Melbourne and Allansford, spending about five days a week at the property.
Today he told The Standard nothing had survived the fire on Saturday night.
"I feel worse today then I did on Saturday night," he said.
"Nothing survived, not a thing.
"There was nothing left standing. Everything went."
Mr Conn was at the Grauers Road property until about 4pm on Saturday when he went to Geelong.
"I'd been given gold class tickets for the movies so we went to the movies in Geelong," he said.
"I came out and my phone had alarm messages and a message from the police.
"It's all a haze. It (the fire) was still going on Sunday."
Mr Conn had alarms installed and recently changed the locks on the nine external doors of the house.
"It's the fourth time we've been broken into," he said.
"We've been bloody terrorised.
"We've always had the police out."
Mr Conn said his house was insured but a four-wheel-drive which was destroyed in the blaze wasn't.
He said about $50,000 of fishing gear was also gone from a shed.
"That's my life, that's why I moved there," he said.
"I don't really know what has been stolen."
Mr Conn said he fell in love with the historic property and was intending to farm there.
"I've farmed all my life and I always wanted something by a river," he said.
"The biggest attraction of the house was the age of it.
"We were living there five days a week."
Mr Conn praised the work of the police and CFA and said he couldn't thank them enough.
"To say they did a tremendous job is an understatement," he said.
The homestead was already ablaze when the alarm was raised at 7.40pm.
Warrnambool Brigade officer-in-charge said the home was fully engulfed when brigades arrived.
CFA brigades from Allansford, Warrnambool, Cudgee, Naringal and the Hopkins Curdies group crews took about an hour to bring the fire under control.
