I have always fancied the idea of owning a wood burning stove but never had the opportunity before now to install one.

We did quite a bit of research over the internet and found that the cheapest places that would sell us such a burner was way up north in Scotland. The postage costs weren’t bad either but as I was about to book it, thoughts of carbon footprints (I hate that phrase) came to mind. Sure it would be cheaper but the environmental cost of getting it delivered kind of cancels out the benifits of having the stove in the first place. So in the end we settled on a more local supplier who although it cost a little bit more, it was the right choice.

I got it delivered to work and although I work on a main road, the delivery lorry decided just to stop in the middle of the road whilst he and a weedy ginger lad wrestled to get it indoors where I was told that the driver could only assist me to the office door, no further “Its more than my jobs worth pal” - idiot. This thing weighs an absolute ton!

Not long after struggling to get it indoors, it was time to get it outdoors again and onto the back of a trailer. This seemed easy in comparison to earlier and its now sitting in my living room having been freshly unwrapped.

I’m now on the hunt for a free wood source and have started diverting my running routes to include as many local woods as possible.