The move renewed fears for the safety of other properties that have been brought closer to the brink by continuing landslips.

A pair of semi-detached bungalows were demolished last month at Knipe Point, near Scarborough, when Kevin Lloyd cleared his detached holiday bungalow next door, knowing it was at risk.

But although it was always likely the Redcar businessman's weekend retreat would be next on the list, residents have been astonished by the speed with which the cliff has crumbled away.

They are now concerned for the row of bungalows behind those in immediate danger, fearing it is only a matter of time before the landslip affects them.

For Pat Boothroyd, 68 and her husband Michael, 64, it is the end of a dream which began when Mrs Boothroyd used to visit the beauty spot with her mother.

Mrs Boothroyd said: "I have been coming here since the Sixties with my mother, who wanted to live up here. I have done what she wanted to do – but for how long?

"We have been all over the world but there is nowhere like here – nowhere else where you would rather be when the sun is shining."

In the end she and her husband sold their caravan and their home near Leeds to move to Knipe Point seven years ago.

"We thought it would be forever and our kids' inheritance," she said.

"We are told the landslip is dev-eloping in a banana shape which will go straight through our home."

Knipe Point Owners' Association secretary Mike Turner said it was puzzling residents that the torrents of water that seemed to be causing the National Trust-owned Cayton Bay Woods below to dip and the cliffs to crumble seemed to be occurring only at certain times of day.

Streams began running over the landslip below before 9am but tended to dry up by lunchtime, suggesting a link to regular water usage by the local population.

He added: "Everyone thought it was inevitable that Mr Lloyd's bung-alow would go, but not at this speed. Only a week after the first two properties were pulled down a crack was seen to open up in his garden and by the evening it was 2ft wide."