Comforting smell,gentle crackles and hypnotising flames!

Well what a lovely weekend blue sky from Saturday morning all the way through until Sunday evening – now if you know Devon then you realise that this is quite rare. Devon is very green with lush pastures due of course to the amount of rainfall we have.
Well I thought I would write about one of my favourite things in the winter and that is the Fire I love my open fires – my solid fuel/log rayburn and of course I also love bonfires! OMG I sound like a fireraiser (once I had the most enormous bonfire in Normandy it was stupendous and went on for days – good job we had no neighbours – but I was in my element!)

The right wood is essential and I don’t know whether you know but there is a brilliant poem about this:


Beech wood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year


Store your beech for Christmastide
With new cut holly laid beside


Chestnuts only good they say
If for years tis stored away


Birch and firwood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last


Flames from Larch will shoot up high
Dangerously the sparks will fly


But ashwood green and ashwood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown


Oaken logs if dry and old
Keep away the winter’s cold


Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke


Elmwood burns like churchyard mould
E’en the very flames are cold


It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread


Applewood will scent the room
Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom


But ashwood wet and aswood dry
A king may warm his slippers by.

This is some pile of logs (but not mine!)

It sometimes can be difficult to get the right wood – we tried on Saturday found someone selling logs had a sample bag and MOH spent most of Saturday and Sunday evening chasing sparks all over the carpet!!! So we are going to have to find someone else!

Sorry has to be done on a Saturday night - glass of lovely red wine!

lovely fircone firelighters I hate those smelly ones!

Toasting crumpets nothing beats it on a cold winters afternoon!

On Saturday we also went on a lovely walk – there was so many people in the sea – rather them than me.

Came home and baked some biscuits – a recipe I have had for years and never fails.

We then lit the fire and you know what happened then!!


Sunday morning just as beautiful so we went on a walk which is right behind our house – it was lovely some of the trees were still lush and green!

You can just see Dartmoor in the background.

We even had our lunch outside in the garden and I picked the last of the apples on the tree – I can feel another Tarte Tatin coming on.

Once again the fire was lit and MOH did the dance of the sparks!!!
Well its Monday now and back to work – but I am getting a little sidetracked lately so many things to do but don’t quite no where to start I feel a list coming on but then that’s another story.
I would also like to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments - when I first started blogging I got a little dispondent as it seem to take ages for anyone to notice me - but now it is so lovely to hear from you all its like having lots of lovely friends. I am going to spend this evening reading all your blogs! like curling up with a good book, except its a bit hard with my laptop!