Now the weather has turned very cold it's time to get your fire going and curl up next to it for the night. Here are some tips and tricks to lighting your fire.
1. You’ll need an ample supply of fully-seasoned firewood logs. (12kg Seasoned Logs £4.99)
2. Good kindling is essential. Keep a small basket of dry sticks split to 1-2 cm diameter. These can be supplemented by fallen sticks and branch wood gathered during country walks – beech sticks are best. Pine cones and dried orange peel are also really good kindling. (2.5kg-3kg Kindling £2.99)
3. Leave a blanket of ash 3–5 cm deep and make a slight saucer sized depression in the middle where the kindling will go. The ash is brilliant at holding the very first embers and will help the fire to get going more quickly – it will also protect the inside of the woodstove prolonging its life.
4. Place a large log to the back of the fire and a smaller log to the left and right of the fire. You now have a log lined enclosure to light the fire, with an ash base. Place the material you will first light, rolled up paper, shreds of cardboard or a tiny piece of firelighter, in this space and arrange several sticks of kindling on top. Have a couple of small split logs, say 5-10cm diameter, ready to place on top of the kindling once you are sure it has lit. With a wood stove have of all the air vents open at this stage and maybe the door just slightly open. (Firelighters £1.00)
5. The trick is to get the fire burning really well for 30 – 45 minutes to warm the chimney and get the stove up to working temperature, Then partly close the stove air vents, so that you have beautiful rolling flames above the fire.
See all of our other winter fuel products online or in store.
