Eleanor Doughty explains how to keep the home fires burning without damaging the environment
THE familiar crackle of logs, the bliss of walking into a cosy sitting room: the benefits of a home fire are numerous. However, this comfortable image could soon be fading. Defra Secretary Michael Gove announced in May that the Government will clamp down on all sources of pollution as part of its Clean Air Strategy. This will include both coal and woodburning.
The news was described by Charles Moore in The Spectator as a ‘direct attack on country life’, for ‘all houses in the country are cold, and impossibly expensive to keep warm... The cheapest and most cheerful way of heating individual rooms is by burning wood’. It’s hard to disagree, even when tasked with sweeping last night’s ashes away, but what will this mean for the future of heating?
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