Summer time
Well at least according to the clocks it is! In rural leicestershire this morning it’s more like winter though! Cold and raining and no sign of any sun. Oh well, I suppose it will warm up at some time, though I’m sure I’ve just heard snow forecast on the radio!
We’re just working on a very special stone fireplace for a client in Leicestershire. It is a copy of a lovely old French fireplace that the customer saw in an old farmhouse where they stayed in the Limousin area (near Limoges) It is quite a rustic design but very beautiful proportion, and ideal for a dining room (where our customer is putting his) or in fact any largish reception room.
We’re also working on a lovely stone staircase at the moment for an old shop. The staircase will lead to the upper gallery area of an architectural antiques shop, and will curve gracefully as it rises. We’ve had to build a new curving internal wall to support the stone stairs.
If the weather does improve, perhaps you can give your stone fireplaces a rest for a few months. Concentrate instead, on getting some logs cut ready for your llog pile. Although logs are best seasoned (dried) for at least a couple of years. You can get away with less, if you keep them dry and stack them against a south facing wall. With luck then, if we get some hot weather, they could well be dry enought for use next winter.
If you can get ash…. the finest wood you can burn in your stone fireplace (or any fireplace) It will even burn quite well when not fully dry, so that’s an advantage if you don’t have a couple of years’ supply already accumulated.