This little article has been written on Sunday and put on forward post so you can read it today.
I am today out with our fantastic suppliers for the Christmas Party in Nottingham now i have been attending these for a few years now as the people we buy our gallery fireplaces from have become personal friends many of whom came to my wedding reception and we have been known on many occasions to go and watch Nottingham Forest even having one very messy day in an executive box.
I know they read our blogs and it was one real mad day where we had far to much beer .
Anyway i thought i had better prewrite this as im sure i will be worse for wear after a days drinking with the boys.
So that is the reason why you have not been able to get hold of me unless you have rung my mobile so forgive me if i could not give you the answers you wanted to all your Fireplace and Stove questions.
Right off now to finsih my wine i just hope it wasn’t me whose turn it was to be flat out outside the Indian (thanks Al it still makes me smile from last year)
Archive for December, 2009
Day out with our Fireplace suppliers in Nottingham
Monday, December 21st, 2009All Fireplace deliverys and collections are complete
Sunday, December 20th, 2009Hooray we have managed it and delivered everything we said we would before our Christmas break, both sleighs i mean vans are now back safe and sound after snow tried to ruin our last attempt at delivery before Christmas.
I have had two people say to me they didnt think we would be arriving today with there items due to the weather and thought we would ring to cancel, in all our time here at Castfireplaces i can honestly only remember not doing two deliverys and thats when Stu was struck down a few weeks ago and i did two delivery runs and put back two deliverys to the following Sunday.
It has not been a nice drive today and we were both around two hours late getting home due to the bad weather and funnily enough the closer we got home the worse the weather was.
My last job of the day was to meet a customer at our factory who had come to collect a firefox 12 stove (the heavy one) which also happens to be our last in stock luckily for them, they had come from Chester and were surprised at how heavily it was snowing at 4pm when they came.
I enquired if they were going to drive back home but it turns out thay are stopping at her parents in Derby tonight hence the reason for collection.
So one more heave and it was loaded in his car with a 1000mm length of flue and then lock and alarm Factory and Showroom, im now back at home with a large grin on my face ready to open a bottle of Wine (Thanks TT) and sit back and relax for the 1st time in a few months knowing that our work is done for two weeks i am really so looking forward to Christmas and a nice rest.
Fuel for Fireplaces How do you split yours
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Ok im sat in my office at 9pm just writing a little article for our website i have the blinds open as i look out to the garden where it has a nice covering of snow and it is snowing quite heavily.
Now i love the winter weather and love snow and both my kids are really excited about going sledging as i am now laughing to myself as i bought two shiny red sledges today from Franks Warehouse in Ripley just on the off chance.
So after i get back from deliverys (Weather permitting im off sledging)
Anyway back to the point i have had some cherry wood dropped off at our factory in large tree trunk sizes that have been chain saw cut to around 10″ perfect for all our Multi Fuel Stoves
So went i went to the factory today to meet customer collecting Pembroke Fireplace i took my large axe with me. So van loaded and fireplace loaded in to Customers van i thought i will just have a quick try.
Anway all set up and i swung the axe Boing it just bounced straight off just making a small axe head dent.
Right then another bigger swing and it did split it this time i chopped about 3 or 4 trunk size pieces up and my arms were aching back was aching and i hadnt even touched the pile.
I can honestly say i did not realise how much hard work it was. So i thought to myself i know Walvins has large hydraulic spliiter ill google it and see what i can get so when i was back in my office im now the proud new owner of 6 ton Log splitter which im told will be delivered in three days maximum.
Cant wait to try it out im now having a huge amount of timber from Paul and me and him are going to log it up.
He runs a gardening business and has huge amount of wood he now is going to sell logs to our customers who buy solid fuel fireplaces from us and yipee i will get mine for free.
What a deal i cant go wrong i just pass on his details with every stove or fireplace i sell and i get large tree trunks delivered for me to split with my new toy.
Stupid isnt it that im quite looking forward to spending a day between Christmas and New Year making solid fuel for my Stove.
Lytton and Pine Corbel Mantels to Fife
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Hey mark, sorry meant to email sooner. we are very happy with the fire places, and i was impressed at how quickly they arrived, all in good condition. i fitted them last week, they look great and work braw. cheers again
Allan Williamson Fife 19/12/09
Related products
Lytton Pine Corbel Package
There is nothing like a real fire for warming the home
Friday, December 18th, 2009Well i love the snow and the cold weather there is something very festive about it being cold outside and it snowing and the thought of sitting in front of a real fireplace burning logs or coal is just so appealing.
How many Christmas cards have you seen with this scene on it what better time can be spent than all gathered around a real working fireplace and just enjoying the warmth and beauty of real wood burning.
Now as i have said before i love real fires and always have our Tiger Plus Multi Fuel Stove roaring away as soon as the weather gets cold and today my wife has had it going all day and when i got back from the factory the whole house was warm and our office was too.
The heat from this stove seems to circulate right round the house and warm all the rooms and now our damp logs seem to be getting drier after i keep splitting them into smaller sizes its back to its usual heating ways.
Speaking of logs one of my best mates dropped at our factory a load of Cherry yesterday for me which i will cut up this weekend i have never burnt cherry before but he says it burns reall well and produces good heat so i will keep you all posted on how it goes i have googled waht wood burns best and may cover this in a post ourselves
Christmas and New Year Opening Times for Cast Fireplaces
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Here at Cast Fireplaces we do have Christmas off every year as we are a small family business we do take a well earned break over the festive period to spend time with our Family and Friends.
When myself and Rhian started this Business back in 2003 we said we would never work between Christmas and New year and to this day we still dont.
So i hear you ask what are your opening hours and days then, well we Finish work on Sunday 20th December and will reopen on Monday January 4th. We will answer emails and phone calls in between these times but there will be no deliverys or collections from our Factory at Langley Mill and no viewing of our showroom until the 4th Jan.
I understand it is quite a long break but we do work seven days a week from 9AM – 8PM and are in need of some time off so if you are planning to come and visit us please ring for an appointment before Sunday or im afraid it will be in the New Year after then.
Our delivery service will commence again on the 5th Jan and we will work through all orders places as quickly as we can when we get back to work.
As said before we will answer eamils and phonecalls whenever we can so please bear with us if you do not get our normal instant reply.
Anway all there is left to say is Thankyou to all our Staff for there hard work this year and a big thankyou to everyone who has ordered from us and made 2009 a great year for us here at Castfireplaces.
So Happy Christams and a happy New Year and we look forward to having more new customers in the year to come.
Time running out for Fireplace delivery as customer collects Pembroke from Newcastle
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009Now i have heard of Carrying Coals to Newcastle but today we have had a customer come and collect a Pembroke Full Polish Fireplace and granite hearth as when he rang yesterday we told him we had no delivery route planned to the North East until January and we could not deliver before then but he asked if we did have the items in stock if he wished to collect.
As most readers of our article section know we do keep large amounts of fireplaces and stoves in stock and Yes we do have the pembroke in stock both in Black and the required Full Polished Version.
So this morning the phone rang and he asked if it was ok to drive over and collect and he arrived at 2.15 pm today.
Card payment taken and fireplace loaded he was on his way saying he was fitting it tonight so his wife could decorate the christmas tree. It is a good job the fireplace he had is easy to fit and as he was using it for decorative purposes only i gave him a little fitting advice on the hearth etc.
So another very happy customer driving back home with one of our fireplaces i should really have bought him a bag of Coal to complete the little phrase of Coals to Newcastle but i suppose im more than happy to be sending fireplaces there instead.
So we are open until Sunday for collections so if you wish to collect just give me a ring
Jubilee and Oak Langley makes Customer Fireplace Gallery
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Well it is a long time since since we sold Mr Stratford-Way his made to measure Langley solid oak surround which we manufactured for him so it would fit the Jubilee Arched insert.
We normally sell this particular oak mantel as the Coronet and Oak Langley as the surround is a 52″ wide and has no shelf so sites directly onto the hearth leaving a 1″ gap either side.
No our customer decided he wanted the Jubilee instead so we slighlty altered the dimensions of this mantel to suit the openings required to be used with the Jubilee and im sure as you will agree in the photos you can not tell as it looks very pleasing to the eye.
Now this fireplace was supplied with pushunder for solid fuel granite hearth but it appears not to have been fitted correctly and cut down a small measure im sure but i do like things to look the way they should needless to say our customer is very pleased and he emailed me this comment
Hi
I purchased the following Fire and surround from you in September and thought that you might like to see the finished item…………
It look fab and thanks for your help
Regards
Nigel Stratford-Way
So have a look at the before Photo
Now take a look at finished article
What a transformation this has made to this flat wall and now it has been fitted really makes a focal point and feature for this room
Why has the Christmas fireplace rush not stopped yet
Monday, December 14th, 2009Normally at this time of year as we get towards the final week or so before Christmas we find that people are switching from buying household goods such as fireplaces and tend to buy presents instead.
This year has been remarkably different and we are still taking last minute orders and adding to our delivery runs this week which include Yorkshire and Scarborough on Thursday, South Wales on Friday and now two runs to london and the South on Sunday. I am not sure why people have left it so late to order things but last week i thought i might not need to deliver on Sunday 20th but this has now turned into two vans going its crazy really how are they going to get all these items fitted before Christmas when they arrive on the 20th but im not complaining ive never known a December like it..
We also have numerous customers collecting items this week and are waiting confirmation from our great suppliers exactly what and when everything is arriving im sure they are fed up with me asking them if they can supply this and source that from whoever so it arrives to our factory for me the Fireplace Santa to send out on our trust sleighs (well vans but sleighs sounds more festive).
So if you are looking for last minute fireplaces give us a ring as we have managed to sort out every delivery bar one (Paris Highlighted) and we will see what we can sort out for you i can’t promise but i will try my best
Three Weeks to beat VAT price increase on your Fireplaces and Stoves
Sunday, December 13th, 2009As i am sure you aware the VAT rate is due to return to the rate of 17.5% on the first of January.
Since the cut in “Value added Tax” was announced here at Castfireplaces we moved straight away to offer this to our customers at the checkout stage of there order so they would save the money.
Now i know alot of other companies did not alter prices and just kept the difference but we thought it only fair we passed on this saving in what were turbulent times.
As im sure you are aware its not a huge amount of money to be saved but as a company it has saved our customers £1000s in reduced Vat charge.
So as of the 1st of January all our fireplaces will return to the current rate of Vat @ 17.5% so you still have the chance over the next few weeks to save your hard earned cash when buying a new fireplace Firebasket or stove.
By this time im sure new updated site will be up an running so i am looking forward to the New Year and we have many exciting new things planned for then and have some great offers we have done deals on to offer our customers what will be the best offers available whether online or offline.
We also have a new range of items arriving in Feb but i will tell you more closer to the time.