I'm a Fire Starter!
I recently moved to a house that has an open fire (my first one), and Iโve quickly fallen in love with the whole process of maintaining an open fire.
A little over a month ago my wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs, cat and 4 fish tanks all upped sticks and moved to the Welsh countryside. Itโs a much bigger house than we had before, with 2.5 acres of land, a double garage (for my motorbikes) and a couple of outbuildings.
Weโre hoping that it will be a much nicer way of life down here. We intend to have a vegetable patch, more animals and generally be closer to nature. A smallholding, if you will.
This house has an open fire in the lounge, itโs actually the first house Iโve ever lived in that has an open fire. Lucky for us, my wife grew up with one, so she knows how to lay it properly.
She taught me, and itโs my new favourite thing to do. I love every single aspect of it. From chopping up firewood derived from trees on our land, to stacking it in our firewood store. To cleaning the fire every day, and laying a fresh fire. And of course, enjoying the cozy atmosphere only an open fire can bring.
Colour me surprised
The fact Iโm enjoying having the fire so much has really surprised me. I always thought they would be too much hassle to manage and that Iโd find it tedious, but I find the whole thing quite cathartic actually.
Maybe part of it is because weโre saving money by burning wood from our land, or maybe itโs the fact that an open fire needs constant attention and Iโm learning something new. Whatever it is, with the energy crisis at the moment, Iโm thanking our lucky stars that we have a wood burning fire instead of a gas fire.
Thereโs no point or conclusion to this post really. Maybe Iโll write more about the kinds of things Iโm learning as our new life in the country develops. Would any of you find that interesting? Let me know using the button below.