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Monday 18 October 2010

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!





21 comments:

  1. Hi Jill,

    Lovely pictures of the countryside and your home. Your sitting room looks very warm and cosy! You decorated the fireplace beautifully with the little fairy lights and the angel on the mantelpiece. It looks very welcoming, especially on such a cold autumn day as today!

    Lieve groet, Madelief

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  2. Jill... Can I please come and live with you? I'll have to bring the hubby, kiddies, dog and cat though... we're all house trained... except my youngest, but she wears a diaper *nappy*... Your weekend sounds perfect and looks even better. Thanks for sharing it with us. Lx

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  3. Dear Jill
    Thank you for your lovely comment over at mine :-)
    This is such a wonderful post you've written and it makes me want to come around to your house and curl up by that beautiful fire you have! Wonderful !
    Our house is only 20 years old and sadly, has no chimney. We had the most hideous gas fire originally, but got rid of it 2 years ago as I couldn't bear to look at the ugly thing - it was like somebody had driven their car through the wall !! Ha ha!
    Anyway, for 2 years we've puzzled and wondered about another fire. Currently we can't decide whether to go for a gas powered stove (which would be easy) or to go full hog and have a wood burning stove fitted with a stainless steel pipe outside. Neither option is inexpensive, however! We both lean towards the real log burner... so who knows, maybe one day....
    have a lovely week,
    Denise x

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  4. Dear Jill, I wish you a pleasant week and thanks for sharing the pics. they are beautiful!

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  5. I shall take comfort from your early days despondency and feeling invisible in blogland! I shall never write the kind of blog that attracts dozens and dozens of devoted followers, I accept that now.
    I would love to have a wood fire again, but after one horrific experience I had twenty years ago, and I can still hear that awful roar as the fire took hold in the chimney, I just am not brave enough, no matter how much I love the smell and the sound and the sight of a REAL FIRE.
    And the comment 'you know what happened then!!' after the second lighting of the fire could be taken one of several ways you know! Exclamation marks definitely needed.
    Lovely pix, so homely and welcoming and gorgeous is your place.

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  6. Message for Maggie: I mean the sparks flew again!!!!

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  7. Hi Jill,
    There is nothing as homey as curling up by the fire on a cold night. I enjoyed reading about the different wood fires too.
    Thank you for visiting me today and leaving a nice comment- I will definitely be back too!

    Carolyn

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  8. Hi Jill

    I was going to email you, but cannot find an address on your blog! I am going into Farnborough today and we attend St Peter's Church there, most of our friends live there and it is just over the A331.

    I am having trouble with my eyes, I did go and get my glasses on but I still found it hard to read your post as the blue colours are very similar.

    I used to have a lovely old cottage in Twickenham overlooking the green, now in a 60's bungalow which is not the same.

    I see you had a house in Normandy, I am sorting out some sort of itinerary for a holiday next year as Phil wants to visit the "Beaches" and I want to visit Honfleur, Rouen and Bayeux, so I might be asking you for some help if that is ok.

    Have become a follower and am now going to see your older posts. Jackie Ash Vale, Surrey.

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  9. Glad you found me because now I have found you!
    Lovely photos of your home....I am now going to look around the rest of your blog with a cup of coffee...
    Julie x

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  10. Hi Jill,
    I'm so happy more people have found your blog! (did you see the little award I send you in my post yesterday? hope you like it).
    Also, like laura, we can come and live with you, no problem! Your post was so lovely to read, thanks for sharing!
    Maureen x

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  11. Hi Jill, tank you for passing and leaving your lovely comment to my post! I was so glad to receive it!!
    Your post is very very lovely, such a magical atmosphere in your home! I love fire too!
    Have a nice afternoon and see you soon.

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  12. C'est TOUT ce dont je rêve !
    Tu habites un endroit enchanté, enchanteur Jill ...
    Bisous de douce soirée.
    Marie-Ange

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  13. Hi Jill, so glad you popped into my blog, as it lead me to your lovely blog, can not believe how much we have in common,glad to see your a big fan of bright star, so beautiful, and Ben wishaw is divine!!! I have pt your blog on my blog list ,so other people can find you, and your lovekly cottage, back soon Linda x x

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  14. What a lovely post, warm and cosy, just what we need today as I scrapped the first frost of my car this morning!
    Shelly.

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  15. Hola Jill, you have cozy fire, cookies and the sea around, what else can be more perfect!!?
    Your house is so lovely, love everything you have shared in the older posts!!
    much happiness to you,
    maria cecilia

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  16. Aah, after a day that started below zero (not my mood, just the temperature outside!), seeing your lovely fireplace feels very cosy! We under-use our wood-burning stove, but if this winter turns out to be anything like last year's, I think we may very well change that! ;-D

    You live in an area of spectacular beauty, and how amazing to have walking possibilities on your door step with views like that!

    So, when you lived near Bath, where were you? Were you anywhere near Corsham (where we live)?

    Thank you again for your kind words on my blog - always so nice to receive.

    Wishing you a lovely weekend,
    Helena, The Swenglish Home

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  17. Hi Jill!!! I'm so glad you write a comment on my blog!!! I've lived in Devon for a while!!! Actually I was in South Devon: in Teignmouth and Dawlish, but I've travelled all around the county!! And I totally felt in love with it!!! especially with the beautiful Dartmoor and its ponies!!!
    Hugs from Italy!!!
    Mara

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  18. When I look at your blog, all I can think of is warmth and coziness.

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  19. I wish I could live in your blog, I would be so happy! x

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  20. Hello Jill,
    i am an official new follower though I have been checking in on your lovely post for quite a while now. I am a little late in commenting on this post as work has kept me rather busy of late. Your words and pictures made me ache with something akin to homesickness (though I have never lived in Devon). My husband and I live in Santa Barbara, California and feel very spoiled in saying we want to live somewhere where there is more of a seasonal change. SB is beautiful but we both so love crisp fall evenings in front of a fire place and a magical frost on the grounds in the morning. My husband is partly from England and I have visited on a couple of occasions. I am afraid to say I fell in love with it. Particularly Devon as along with it's beauty all my heros live there, Alan Lee, Terri Windling, Brian and Wendy Froud, and so many others. I say "afraid" as we run (among other things) an animal sanctuary and trying to get 50+ cats over there I think would be the end of me. Anyway thank you for your beautiful blog, please continue to post landscape photos so I can pine away. If you have a chance please visit my blog at www.triciafountainedesign.com/blog/, hope you enjoy it as I do yours... Thank you again.

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  21. Hi Jill,

    I am completely in love with your gorgeous fireplace. We're in the (slow) process of looking for one for our living room. Yours is so beautiful. I'd love to curl up in front of that fire!

    Sarahx

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Thank you for your lovely words