When I lived in London and the weather turned chilly (usually around the second week of August if I remember correctly), I cranked up the central heating and thought nothing more about turning it off again until about the second week of July.
Living in the Campo, we have no mains gas connection. A few brave souls have installed gas fired central heating, but because our main living/dining/kitchen area is all one room, we decided that a fire would be enough for us.
Well, it should have been had the first fire we bought worked well. It was a super duper one with a glass door that was meant to waft lovely warm air over us and fill the house with a cosy glow. Mmm. What we actually got was a smoky old fart of a fireplace that ate up wood like a starving person newly released from the fat farm and left us shivering and having to repaint the house which turned a yucky nicotine brown colour.
We saved up our pennies and bought a new fire which looked almost identical but to our great joy, actually worked! Now our fire eats wood like a super model on a diet, wafts warm air over us without suffocating us with smoke and warms the bathroom and hall which sit behind it until the next morning.
Getting wood to the house is a whole other matter. No quick trip to the petrol station for a bag of logs, we buy several thousand kilos a year to keep us going, and have a very special way of getting it up the slope to our house. Just in case you should find yourself in the same situation, here´s our recipe for keeping toasty warm all winter when living in the almost middle of nowhere.
First, load 4 thousand kilos of oak onto your rusty but trust old lorry. Feel free to substitute olive, almond or cherry wood as available that year.
Leave some of it in your little olive grove.
Drive your rusty but trusty lorry over kindly neighbour´s field and park by side of your house. Crank up the winch and start to manoeuvre a couple of bags into place outside your back door.
If you have a small dog called Alfi (or similar), take him up to the roof with you to help direct the winch. Small dogs have a particular talent for this I find.
Otherwise, get a friendly neighbour to help.
Let your eye wander over the sad looking vegetable garden enjoying a well deserved rest for the winter.
Place the wood where you want it.
Accept a kiss from your lovely but hot and grubby Big Man who has done all the work.
Light that fire, open a bottle of wine and relax.
Chica Andaluza 
Very funny! That looks like a brilliant fire too. Central heating is great, but nothing beats a real fire 😉
Nothing does beat it – except central heating when you´re having a bad day and just can´t get the blinkin´ thing to light! Yes…it does happen sometimes 😦
I Love your ‘rusty but trusty’ lorry (or ‘truck’ as I would call it) with its shiny new(ish) crane attachment! Your method certainly beats the old “grab the wheelbarrow and bring up a load”…
Enjoy your fire, the nights are getting cool!
It is easier (sort of)…well, quicker at least. And I love the word truck…so much more “grrrr” and manly!
That little Alfi is adorable! and you’re a lucky lady having a Big Man like that!!
I agree on both counts (thank you!)…mind you, I had to wait a long, long time to meet my Big Man!
Nothing like a fireplace in the dead of WInter. It will rid your bones of that awful chill and bathe the room in that heavenly glow. And there’s nothing more disappointing than a malfunctioning fireplace. Glad you replaced the latter with the former and have all the wood you’ll need for the cold nights ahead.
Oh! Alfie is awesome!
He´s very into cuddles, so please bring Max round to play!
It had to be done – we couldn´t have gone through another winter without buying gas masks!
A properly working fire is so important. Do you leave the wood in the bags or did the two of you have to stack it all?
We leave it in the bags which get covered with tarpaulin. Seems to keep it dry enough and it´s just a step outside the back door.
Oh my, what an exhausting day!…That bottle of wine would be a sure thing, and the 40 winks!! x
My role was more or the ..er…supervisory and culinary sort…although I did join in with the wine and 40 winks 🙂
Beautiful, beautiful, beautifulll post! 😀
You’ve a real talent… Great with the similies, I must say… released starving person to a supermodel on a diet? Wow, you’ve got it all under control! 🙂
Ah thanks so much Fati. It was fun to write 🙂
I love that post! Our wood burner is our godsend too… we have a fallen tree or branch brought round by tractor from our farmer neighbour, then we have to spend the following weeks sawing it up and stacking it!!! x
It´s great when you get “given” wood, but boy do you have to work for it!
I agree with Linda..Alfi is super cute and you are lucky to have big man..all great things are worth waiting for 🙂
They are indeed…thank you so much, I am a very lucky lady 🙂
Lovely story, lovely warm fire!
It´s a great fire…finally!
What a lovely funny read Tanya! Alfi is ADORABLE!!! Give him a scratch behind his ear from me please. Pete would be jumping up and down with joy at the sight of all that wood – he is a pyromaniac of sorts and would braai 7 nights a week just to light a wood fire!
🙂 Mandy
Will give Alfi a little scratch from you and tell Pete he´s welcome to pop round any time for a few logs!
*big hug*
I love our fire too, it’s one of my favourite things about the winter here. We have one with a door too. Last year the glass in the door broke and we stuck it together with sellotape because a new piece of the firesafe glass was going to cost 180 euros!! The sellotape worked surprisingly well because it melted into the split with the heat, just a little tip there, in case!! We succumbed this year and bought a new piece of glass for the door last week so we are enjoying the cosy evenings again. The cats are particularly happy!!
What a pain about the door – at least you didn´t have to buy a whole new fire. And what a great tip about the sellotape…as we are pretty good at breaking things, I´ll remember that!
love your lorry full of wood! wish i had it and the winchy thingy, but I have to carry my wood in my arms to the house. Our fire is our only heating too and your new fire looks great! c
The winchy thingy is the business. I´m sure the day will come though when we have to do it manually…walk through olives, cross track, up about 15 steps then round the house to the back. Phew…that will keep us in shape as we get older!
Hi Chica. How lucky are you. You don’t want to borrow the wheel barrow then! lol! Fab pictures. Especially of your man and Alfie. Thanks for sharing. Lovely post.
Regards Florence x
Thanks Florence – we could lend you rusty but trusty – but your wood comes in almost to where you want it!
This was far more fun to see than to do, I’m sure. Wonderful photos and story as always!
Well, I got off lightly thanks to Big Man, Alfi and Kindly Neighbour! Have to say, we´re glad it´s done now though.
I love this! I can’t live without a fireplace…yet I don’t currently have one in the house. The firepit out back is my short term solution to feeding my “fix.”
A firepit sounds like fun – food, flames…just what you need!
You definitely earned that bottle of wine! And what cute guys you have in your life.
It´s a one off hard work day (well, until about January when we´ll need to winch some more up!) but fun. And yes, they are all cuties 🙂 Thanks!
Looks like quite a haul of wood. 🙂 Nice to put a face to “Big Man”
It should keep us going into next autumn hopefully – and yes, that´s my Big Man!
Hola Tanya!
Me ha encantado tu post. Ha sido una oportunidad genial para conocer un poco tu entorno y, otra vez, me ha encantado 🙂
Como ves, voy un poco retrasada en mis comentarios… estoy teniendo una semana complicada.
Gracias por compartir tu dia a dia con nosotros,
Un beso,
Giovanna
Gracias Giovanna y no te preocupes por el retraso – no estás obligada a hacer un comentario! Espero que mejore tú semana. Un abrazo
That was a lovely read!! It is spring & freezing here – I wish I had your gorgeous fire place to sit in front of tonight!
Aah – sending you some of the warm glow to keep you warm 🙂