Peak District Cottages – Chris's Blog

Sheepfold's Log Burning Stove

Just after our guests had departed Shirley asked me to take a  look at the log burning stove in Sheepfold peak district cottage.  I immediately realised something was not as it should have been.  There was some discoloration on the wall and a few pieces of plaster around the flue access had come away.  On closer investigation I discovered that the coupling between the flue and the stove had become loose.  Not a major problem except we had a guest arriving in under 4 hours.  I don’t seem to be doing very well with Log burning stoves at the moment.  To be fair it is the first time in 6 years we have had any problem with this one.  Anyhow I pulled it out to get at the flue and decided I had better sweep it at the same time.  Just as well as it was partly blocked with soot.  The flue cleaned it was then just a matter of refitting the stove to the flue.  A few curses and a liberal helping of Fire Cement and it was back in place and solidly connected.  I now only had to set off the fire cement (it was 14:00 by now).  Sheepfold’s fire is never the easiest  fire to light and this time was no exception.  In the end I got it going and kept it burning for the next few hours.  Luckily the arriving guests were appreciative of the fire I had left them with.

I spent the rest of the afternoon refilling the cottage log store, the house log store and cutting up smaller logs for sticks.  All assisted by my two normal helpers – Blue and Smudge.