Stoves and Stuff

Well having pretty much caught up on garden, veg and wildlife, time for something a little more topical.

With winter (have we had a summer yet?) on its way decided we needed a little more warmth in the front room than the open fire provided. We're in the process therefore of having a wood-burning stove fitted. Stage 1 involved 'exploratory' work to ascertain what was behind the existing opening and what room they had to play with. So Monday was spent making tea for workmen, and listening to the sounds of heavy drilling . . .

Fair play to them, they worked really hard, and by the end of the day they'd actually got to the point of having rendered the new opening and reconstructed the fireplace. You can see the 'before' and 'after' shots here. They also cleaned up pretty well, except for the dust, which coated every surface we hadn't put dustcloths over!

We're now just waiting for the stove to arrive, and a date for fitting (which is being mooted for next week sometime). It's all happened really quickly in the end - and now it's all underway the weather appears to be looking up (it's a lovely day here today); expect blazing hot weather from next week, just when we wouldn't have minded a cool night to give us an excuse to test it all out . . .