The chickens have escaped!

One of the few things I hated about our new house (I still call it new although we’ve been here two and a half years!) was the fireplace. Our house is a 19th century peasant hovel built from local limestone and the chimney would have been an extremely simple affair made from plain, dressed limestone. Unfortunately, some idiot decided at some point during the 60s or 70s to build a new fireplace, and this is what I’ve been scowling at since we moved in.

Now, I’ve mentioned my feelings about the fireplace once or twice (a day) to Ian who has resisted the temptation to knock it down because he so rightly knew just how much work it would involve, and how much time it would take him to rebuild it all afterwards. But a couple of weeks ago I managed to catch him off-guard just long enough to agree that the darn thing would have to go!

It’s not just the aesthetics that I’ve been worried about; open fires like this are a notoriously inefficient way to heat a house. Last winter we got through huge amounts of firewood and yet the temperature in our kitchen was barely affected – all the heat goes up the chimney. This winter we are determined to be warmer and, amongst other heat-efficiency projects, installing a wood-burning stove will make a huge difference to our ability to heat the kitchen (which is our main living area too).

These snap-shots make it look like a quick and easy job, but in fact it took three of us the whole weekend to dismantle everything and clean up afterwards…

And unbelievably we discovered part of the original fireplace (the two outer “pillars”) underneath the crazy-paving monstrosity we so enjoyed pulling down.

I’ve since bought a new mantelpiece and this week Ian will rebuild the upper part of the chimney-breast. We’ve been given a very old but powerful wood-burning stove (a De Dietrich) which, whilst it may not be quite as beautiful or efficient as a modern stove is miles better than the open fire. New pics coming soon…