I'm a Fire Starter!

I recently moved to a house that has an open fire (my first one), and Iโ€™ve 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. Itโ€™s 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.

Weโ€™re 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, itโ€™s actually the first house Iโ€™ve 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 itโ€™s 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.

fireplace

Colour me surprised

The fact Iโ€™m enjoying having the fire so much has really surprised me. I always thought they would be too much hassle to manage and that Iโ€™d find it tedious, but I find the whole thing quite cathartic actually.

Maybe part of it is because weโ€™re saving money by burning wood from our land, or maybe itโ€™s the fact that an open fire needs constant attention and Iโ€™m learning something new. Whatever it is, with the energy crisis at the moment, Iโ€™m thanking our lucky stars that we have a wood burning fire instead of a gas fire.

Thereโ€™s no point or conclusion to this post really. Maybe Iโ€™ll write more about the kinds of things Iโ€™m learning as our new life in the country develops. Would any of you find that interesting? Let me know using the button below.

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