Winter has definitely come

I was woken up both this morning and yesterday morning by the sound of the central heating boiler switching itself on. Nothing unusual?  Well, it is for us.  We don't use the central heating except as a back up when it comes on because the frost stat has dropped too low.  We have the woodburner and that keeps the downstairs warm. The heat works its way upstairs and takes the chill off there too. We have a halogen heater in the bedroom and that heats the room as much as we want.  Halogen heaters us 400 watts per bulb and ours has three bulbs.  For 1.2 Kw per hour, it blasts out a lot of heat.

We have never had to buy any wood yet.  We collect bits if we are out on a walk; we look in every skip we pass; three times now people have given us fence panels when they have replaced their fence; several times people have given us branches or whole trees when they have had trees lopped or taken down. It all adds up to free heat and a bit of free cooking as well.

When I say free heat, there are some expenses involved.  We had to buy the woodburner in the first place and we need to have the chimney cleaned each year (£40).  We bought an axe and a "bomb" to split the large slices of tree trunk.  We also bought a chainsaw and my husband wanted another electric saw for cutting up the processed wood like fence posts and rafters and floorboards.  These are all items which will last some years.   The gas bill has dropped dramatically and we are plenty warm and therefore happy : )