'We were too relaxed, but then ash started falling on us'

"We were probably too relaxed… it was when I watched the third fire break out almost directly opposite us and we saw the flames, I thought, 'This is getting a bit close for comfort'."

Katie Bott, from Hereford, was in Cotignac in the south of France for a wedding last Saturday, when the flames of wildfires tearing through the country forced her and her family to leave their holiday accommodation.

She told the BBC that when that third fire erupted, thick smoke was filling the air with ash falling down on them.

Watching helicopters dumping water on a blaze on the hill opposite, Bott said the family were suddenly told to evacuate, via a loudspeaker from the aircraft.

"We were told, 'Get out'," she said. "There was ash falling on us outside the house, it was very smoky."

With barely any time able to get bags or their belongings together, the family left.

"We got in the car and headed south, we went to the next village as that's where we were told to reconvene," she explained.

Her experience is one of thousands that have affected people across Europe since mid-July, with wildfires also tearing through Spain, Italy and Portugal.

France has seen its worst fires in two decades, amid the unrelenting heat of a major heatwave across the continent.

Too unsafe to return that night, they booked accommodation about 20 miles south.

"To get as far away from the fires as possible until we were told it was safe enough to come back," Bott said. "It got a little bit scary."

They were able to return the next day, to fortunately find the house had been unaffected.

But the wedding had to be pushed back to Sunday, when a hasty ceremony had to be because a fire was also moving towards the chateau where it was taking place.

"We all went up to the chateau on Sunday, but there were an awful lot of police there turning people away," Bott said.

"Some of us managed to get there, they did a very very quick ceremony.

"The chief of fire was there, basically saying: 'Come on, hurry up, get out.'"

The family were later able to return for the evening celebrations.

"The fire wasn't that close, it was just the way the wind changed and it was getting a bit smoky," she added

"They're just very cautious here, which I understand.

"[The firefighters] were amazing, they were very organised, very calm... and thankfully they spoke English."

Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.