Heating Dumblehole isn’t a matter of turning up the thermostat, the oil central heating just can’t cope even if it’s on 24 hours a day. What seems to work is to have the wood burning Rayburn in the kitchen and the ClearView log burner at the other end of the house fired up. Between the two of them it keeps the temperature pleasant, probably cool by most people’s standards. As a consequence we need a lot of firewood and I do mean a lot, the load in the photo will last just over a year! I don’t have a gym membership but I do have a chainsaw and will cut and split the cord wood by hand.

Usually the wood is dropped off in a neighbours field and I have to move it with the loader. This year with the ground being so dry I though we could get the lorry to drop the wood where I need it. Amanda wasn’t convinced but I was pretty sure we’d get the lorry over the bridge and round the corner, it was close!

With the chilly mornings we’ve got the Rayburn up and running. It’s not the most efficient piece of kit but it makes it really cosy in the kitchen. However with the Rayburn and a wood burner  we go through wood at a fair rate of knots.  Back in April I ordered in a ‘little’ firewood for the winter. Rather than buying it already cut and split I thought I’d do it myself as I need the exercise and ‘how hard can it be’.   The photo is 25 tons of tree trunks but I’ve got a great Tanaka chainsaw. Progress has been good if a little erratic, fortunately some friends came to stay. They worked like Trojans spending a full day splitting and barrowing, I think we processed about 5 tons. Thanks Tony, Ali, Victoria and Harry.

There’s probably about 5-6 tons to go but that can wait until next year when I’ve enlisted some other volunteers or should that read victims. Hopefully there’s enough in the wood store for the winter!