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Solid fuel fireplaces bring back some of my happiest childhood memories. I remember being around six or seven years old and living in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire. We had central heating, but what I remember most is the coal fire in what we called the “best room” what we’d probably call the lounge now.
Every winter evening, that 1970s stone fireplace would be roaring away and we’d all seem to gather around it to watch television before bed. I can still remember sitting on the rug with my sister and that feeling of being warm, safe and completely content. I think that’s probably where my love of real fires started.
One memory came back to me years later while I was lighting a stove in our showroom. I suddenly remembered my mum lighting the coal fire at home. I can still picture her holding a sheet of newspaper across the fireplace opening to help the chimney draw and get the fire going, probably because she was a bit short on sticks that day.
It’s funny the little things you remember. Nearly 50 years later, lighting a real fire still brings those memories straight back.
There’s nothing quite like the crackle of wood, the smell of a coal fire and the sight of real flames. For thousands of years, people have gathered around fires for warmth, cooking and company, and I think there’s still something instinctive about it. A fireplace naturally becomes the focal point of the room. That’s certainly always been the case in our family.
Years later, when Melissa and Jaiden were young, we’d have winter evenings where the Xbox and surround sound were switched off and we’d all settle down in front of the wood-burning stove. Sometimes they’d lie on the rug in front of it. Other nights we’d all squeeze onto the sofa, read stories, talk or just sit together.
There were plenty of evenings when one of them would fall asleep in our arms. At the time you don’t necessarily think much about it. Looking back, those moments are priceless.
I always hoped they would grow up with the same sort of memories of a real fire that I had from my own childhood.
Reading this old post again brings back a lot of memories.
Melissa is now 28 and Jaiden is 21. Where has that time gone?
It doesn’t seem five minutes ago that they were lying on the rug in front of the stove while we all sat around the fire together. That’s probably why these old family posts mean more to me now than they did when I first wrote them.Fireplaces have obviously been our business for a long time.
But for me, a real fire has always been about much more than that. It’s the memories that come with it.
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