A big-hearted businessman has thrown open the doors of his country manor to a eight Ukrainian refugees.
Martin Holton paid to have the families flown over from Poland and is putting them up in his luxury £5million 16-room house in South Warwickshire.
The 59-year-old was the only person in the property along with his housekeeper, so had plenty of space for his guests.
Mr Holton, who runs Country Car Barford, has welcomed Tamara Zastryzhna, 36, and her children Valeriia, 14, and Kseniia, 11; her sister Tetiana Maksymenko, 34, and her twins Sofiia and Illia, four; and Olha Pastushenko, 34 - an old school friend of Mrs Zastryzhna - and her daughter Vladyslava, 14.
The refugees fled their home town of Mykolaiv and were stuck in Poland for five weeks waiting for their visa applications to be approved.
During their wait they ran out of money as they had to pay for places to live and food to eat.
But, once the visas came in, Martin used his own money to get the refugees to safety but was left horrified by the experience of trying to get the family over.
Speaking to The Mail Online, he described the entire process as “horrendous” in how long every single step took and how sponsors were left in the dark.
He added that he believed some of the paper work was lost along the way, something other sponsors have worried as well.
He said: "It's very frustrating, and I can only imagine how they were feeling, having been living in a one-bedroom apartment with 10 other people, sleeping on the floor while they wait."
Mr Holton said that thankfully now, the family had settled in well to the huge, historic property - which dates back to the 1930s.
However, the house was damaged in a fire in 2010 and took nearly a decade to rebuild.
He described his refugees as “such humble people” and said it had been “lovely living with them”.
They have already celebrated a couple of birthdays since their arrival.
The property is on a farm which is fenced in with cameras so is “very safe” he said.
And now he’s started an aid collection to help other Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing the Russian invasion.
They are looking to collect specific items like non-perishable food, generators and medical supplies to take to Ukraine.
Those wishing to donate can do so here .
Despite successes of the scheme, there have been a number of concerns raised over the massive delays in granting visas as well as the safety of refugees coming over.
Some would-be sponsors are even going as far as threatening the government with legal action on behalf of the hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who have been left waiting for weeks to come to Britain.
Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confessed things could have been done faster as the government initially came under heavy fire with one Tory MP even suggesting refugees could sign up to the seasonal worker visas.
The Prime Minister said: “Well, we have done a huge amount to help Ukrainian women and children in the area but we're now seeing large numbers come to the UK.
'”So far, 86,000 visas have been issued and 27,000 are already here and I want to say, thank you - 27,000 is a lot and it's growing fast and I want to pay tribute to all those who are helping to look after Ukrainians.
“Could we have done it faster? Yes, perhaps we could.”
