As wood burners have increased in popularity their reputation has grown in controversy. Apparently more and more people are installing them in urban and suburban areas as a way of reducing their heating bills. But they are also creating a clean air issue, something we are lucky enough not to have to deal with here at Ard Daraich. What we do know is that they create an immediate atmosphere of cosiness and comfort.
Long before it became fashionable to create an atmosphere of Hygge we decided that wood burners would be central to our modernisation of Ard Daraich.
“The concept of hygge is one which graces every walk of Scandinavian people’s lives, and news of this lifestyle has been spreading quickly for the last few years, crossing international borders to spread warmth wherever the idea touches.”
“Hygge (pronounced hue-guh not hoo-gah) is a Danish word used when acknowledging a feeling or moment, whether alone or with friends, at home or out, ordinary or extraordinary as cosy, charming or special.”
Scotland has now invented its own form of Hygge or rather resurrected an old Scottish word,
“Coorie has long been synonymous with nestling up to a loved one, but only recently has it entered everyday parlance as a way to describe a scene. One equally warm and comforting, where a cosy room lit by a flickering fire provides refuge from the banshee wind and horizontal rain outside.”
We were persuaded by our architect not to rely on wood heat alone and as we have got older we are grateful to her. However, the wood burners are central to both sitting rooms and to the creation of a sense of home and welcome that we work hard
January is a good month to think about the work involved. There is no one local running a firewood business and so we collect and chop our own. We are lucky enough that the local estate has a lot of over mature trees and after every
In the garden we have four large bins, covered and with slatted sides and our job this month is to chop and stack the logs we have collected for the sun and wind to dry them over the summer.
We try and work a year ahead but this year I think we have slipped behind and may only manage nine months of drying time. With very high levels of humidity it is important that the logs are as dry as possible.
Here are some photos of our recent activity:
