Trendy? My wood burner is essential
WRITER Tom Moon believes that wood burners should be consigned to the history books due to the health risks they are believed to cause (Mail). While the popularity of wood burners has soared in urban areas, due no doubt to their aesthetic appearance and pleasant associations with a cosy country fireside, homes in the countryside actually have very few other options available for heating. Excluded from the mains gas grid, countryside heating options boil down to bottled gas, electricity or oil. My home has an oil boiler and two wood burners, which are badly needed on cold winter nights. So it’s all very well to suggest disconnecting the wood burner in favour of a few strategically placed church candles to ‘give that authentic glow’, but I doubt the candles would be sufficient to heat a three-bedroom house in the freezing depths of winter. Maybe if the 50,000 or so wood burners that are fitted in trendy city apartment buildings were disconnected in favour of a ‘few ferns and succulents in terrariums’, then the country homes that do rely on them for heating could continue to do so without censure, as they have done for many generations. Mrs DONNA LANGLEy,
South Kyme, Lincs. I RECKON I am probably one of the few people who is happy that the promised Indian summer has not actually materialised. Weather forecasts of high winds, rain and plunging temperatures bring joy to my heart because they mean I can light my new wood burner, which has been sitting in my suburban living room all summer waiting to be lit. I made sure I bought one of the latest models that is more efficient at reducing emissions. With the nights drawing in, I am sure there will be nothing cosier than settling down in front of the welcoming, warm glow of my wood burner with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book.
Miss J. M. LLOyD, Reading, Berks.