It’s so exciting…theres a fire in the grate at Ambleside!
I’m sure the chimney sweep thought I was bonkers but he seemed to enjoy showing
me the brush sticking out of the chimney pot and my delight when the little
smoke making thingy all went up the chimney and the little puffs popped out
across the roof top for the first time in years. Theres nothing quite like a
real fire and I’m thrilled that I’m able to put one back in.
As you can see
from the pictures the hole is very small at the front with a big gaping hole at
the back but I was determined to have a fire in it straight away! I got a grate
from B&Q much more cheaply than I’d expected but even that one was too big
so I had to chisel some of the brickwork away last night and wedge it in. I had
an open fire at both of my first two houses but even with all that experience
it took me over an hour to get the coal to catch but when it did I sent a photo
to my relatives and facetimed my Mum so she could see it. How sad!
Today I went
over to Mums and brought back the coal bucket and TOOL SET that I’d had for those
first fires. I was so happy in those first two houses, making fires for my
babies in the mornings all sleepy and warm in their little sleep suits, they’d
help Mummy make the fire and then sit in front of it eating their porridge
while it was still dark outside, just the three of us snuggled in fornt of the
fire, the calm before the playschool run storm. Those were the happiest days of
my life and the fire set brings back wonderful memories, I’m so glad I kept it
at Mums all these years and have it now.
I’ve had another fire tonight and I’m not happy with the
coal, it doesn’t give out heat unless your sitting right on top of it and it
doesn’t smell good so I will need to try and find out where I used to get coal
from as that warmed the whole house and left my husband and I sitting in the
living room on the coldest winter evenings stripped off with the heat it
chucked out!
Theres a fireplace shop at the end of the road and I’d
noticed that they have piles of old fires obviously taken from houses that
they’re putting new fires in so I nipped down there yesterday to ask if they
have any infills for open fires and if they would consider selling me one. The
lady in the shop showed me a fireplace in the back that I would be thrilled to
have but it depends how much they want for it, I have to go back on Tuesday to
talk to her son. The whole idea of this house is that I’m doing it on a very
tight budget, trying to discover bargains and as seen as I got the fire
surround for £25 it would be thrilling to find a fireplace as cheaply as I can
to have the whole thing cost a fraction of what it would normally cost to put
in a real fire. Fingers crossed!
