I'm a Fire Starter!

25 Nov 2022 | ~2 minute read

I recently moved to a house that has an open fire (my first one), and I’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. It’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.

We’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, it’s actually the first house I’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 it’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.

Colour me surprised

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

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

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

• HomeLife