A BARN and thousands of pounds worth of straw were destroyed by fire-starters near Jedburgh last week.

Police are investigating the blaze at Upper Nisbet Farm last Wednesday evening.

Neighbours had reported the sound of a car speeding off from the nearby road just 10 minutes before the alarm was raised.

Farmer Robert Neill had to watch on as his 1970s barn with around 900 bales of straw went up in flames.

Mr Neill said: "We had only finished putting the straw into the shed the day before.

"For natural combustion to take place, you would need eight to 12 days of storage.

“Somebody set fire to the barn."

A total of six fire crews tackled the flames into Tuesday morning.

And they prevented the fire spreading to neighbouring buildings.

Mr Neill added: "You can replace the straw, you can replace the shed, but you can’t replace people, so I’m thankful no one was hurt.”

The Upper Nisbet Farm barn sits close to the road between the villages of Nisbet and Roxburgh.

Investigators believe the fire was started just before 10.30pm.

Anyone with information should call Police Scotland on 101.