The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: MAK on December 08, 2012, 08:40:38 am
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Just watched BBC breakfast's tips on how to cope with the expected cold. I just can not imagine how most people would cope if the clocks were turned back a 100 years or so.
We live in a small house that once had an extended family of 8 living in it (10 years ago) with just one fireplace. When we moved in there was a log burning cooker in the fireplace and no other heating. The downstairs had been partitioned off for bedrooms . We have short but very cold winters here and I can imagine how tough life was and how imporatnt it was to prepare for it.
I wonder how scottish crofters lived thru the winter pre electricity? short days and very cold. ( boredom too? - Hibbernation sounds a good solution.
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thats why they had big families......
1 for lots of body heat :hug: :hug: :hug:
2 for going to bed early to keep warm :innocent: :innocent:
Mx
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And 3 because of the fact that some of the children might not make it to adulthood......
Beth
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We're nearly back a hundred years in time at ours. We switched from an oil (got too expensive) fired system to a woodfired boiler but it took a while to get the house connected and transferred over to the new system. In short we've had three winters without any central heating and just our little multifuel burners in the kitchen and the living room. We were getting FREE skiploads of wood to burn as logs were getting too pricey for us too (We do forage ALOT). Now the skip company has no wood to give us and we're back to our multifuel burners again. It's F*****g freezing. Going to bed with hottie botlles and in hats and jumpers at mo and I KNOW it's going to get colder. WE have LPG for our cooker and obviously have leccy so the immersion can be bunged on if we need hot water but it's not very economical as we've no timer to take advantage of economy seven. It means whoever gets up for a pee in the night :cold: whacks it on and whoever gets up first turns it off. Middle ages?
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Yeh, I've lived without central heating both as a child and an adult. Though it's clearly not as pleasant as having the stuff, it's the lights that get me when we get prolonged powercuts. I suppose I ought to invest in an oil lamp.
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Five to a bed, enormous fatty meals, layers of warm clothing and fortitude.
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I did a part of a winter at Tinkers' Bubble, where the only fossil fuel is the oil in the paraffin lamps and to start the steam-driven saw bench, and the only electricity was generated by their wee windmill - enough for a little bit of lighting and recharging batteries and laptops. Mostly everyone had head torches with rechargeable batteries, and a hurricane lamp.
Every dwelling had a woodburner, and the communal roundhouse an open fire and a Rayburn, on which they burnt wood and cooked. There was an outdoors camp-style fire with tripod for hanging a cooking pot and/or kettle - we made the cheese there.
The Bath House had a burner to warm the air in it and to heat the water; when someone wanted a bath they'd set up a notice 'Bath Night Tonight'; they'd start the fire and have the first bath, then others would sign up to keep the fire stoked and have a bath themselves. Otherwise you washed using water heated in the kettle over the campfire or on the Rayburn. Hot water bottles were filled ditto.
First person up each morning would start the campfire, whoever was about during the day would keep it going.
Task teams would include wood-getting every day - the wood used communally was fetched by a task team, using the Shire horse for carting if suitable (it was too muddy for the cart when I was there, all wood was hauled by person-power :o), the wood used in the individual dwellings was fetched by the occupants.
Another task team would be fellers and choppers, felling the next tree to be chopped and stored. The logs were stored in 'cords', seasoned for two years, then brought up as needed.
It was never boring, there was always plenty to do! :D
I was rarely cold, the fetching, chopping, sawing of wood warmed you - we used to say all the wood warmed you four times. Felling and chopping and storing; hauling; sawing / chopping ready for use; and finally, the fourth time, when it was burnt.
Most of us lit a fire in our dwelling to warm the place to go to bed, and I took hot water bottles. It was cold - snow some of the time - when I was there, I even had a duvet and hottie for the dog! :D If you went to bed warm, under sufficient duvets, you stayed warm till morning.
Getting up was cold, no two ways about it. Run to the communal loos (big holes in the ground with hessian sacks around as screening) while your clothes warmed on the residual heat in your bed. Dress quickly! Then over to the campfire; if you weren't first up, there'd be warmth and hot water already :), otherwise you'd busy yourself making the fire. Two large flasks would have been filled the night before to give warm water in the morning for a wash and a cuppa until the fire got going.
I enjoyed that winter and I learned heaps. It was too hard for me, I couldn't have lived there full time, but I loved the way the business of surviving took up all your time and energy - and kept you warm in the doing of it.
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my house is pretty much the same as when it was made, except the cornish range has gone and a modern chimney put in, we have no central heating and keep warm with the wood burners, getting it to stay in overnight is a skill in itself. my daughter does however have the luxury of an electric blanket. last winter wasnt too bad but the year before i was getting up to -6 in my kitchen and 1/4 inch of ice on the inside of the windows, thats was cold.i was getting up an hour earlier than ellie, to get the fires roaring!
i use about 6m3 of wood a winter, and spend at least 3weeks solid collecting and chopping wood in the summer holidays. i like to have an emergency stash of ash so i felled 2 good crowded ash trees early this year that i can burn if it gets properly cold. originally the range was open to both the main living space and the main bedroom so that would have kept them toasty then although as a gate house i wondered if a family lived here or just a 'gatekeeper'.
occasionally i do wish i had central heating, but we never get colds and we are certainly not nesh.
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Lol , never lived in a place with central heating .
Only got gas here in the caravan and that goes off at night , so a bit chilly in the mornings .
It is too hot for me in peoples houses with c/h, i can't breath and get prickly heat .
Not everyone , but in general , people are soft these days and rely far to much on leccy .
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Tinkers Bubble sounds a great place to go before moving to an isolated area to start a smallholding. We have no mains drains and I seem to spend cool summer days digging new and better soakaways and keeping the septic tank and exit filters working.
All the above posts just becomes a way of life - like cutting wood when it is 29 degrees so that you can be warm when it is -20 degrees.
We need a post about keeping the log burner going overnight ! ;D
I find myself sorting wood for "overnight" burning each time I go and collect it and search for suitable bits to bring in for the morning when I hope to bring the fire to life with just the right bits. It is an art !! but not sure I have mastered it especially when there is a gale blowing over the chimney stack that increases the draw.
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We need a post about keeping the log burner going overnight ! ;D
I find myself sorting wood for "overnight" burning each time I go and collect it and search for suitable bits to bring in for the morning when I hope to bring the fire to life with just the right bits. It is an art !! but not sure I have mastered it especially when there is a gale blowing over the chimney stack that increases the draw.
The simple answer is - dried horse poo! :) It really works!
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We used to have ice on the inside of the windows some mornings. Mum would say Jack Frost has been doing his rounds. Winters were lots of snow, days of school so we went sledging my brothers and myself, built snowmen and mum made sure we were wrapped up. Lots of home made soup and stews to keep us warm. We were happy and heathy.
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Sally, I remember Jack Frost's beautiful patterns on the inside of windows, how many children have experienced that, these days? You had to "huff" a hole to look out.
But a lovely warm kitchen to get dressed in, an almost as warm cowshed, the real, warm comfort of the cows hay-smelling breath.
The contrast was worth the cold gettings up and the icy bathroom.
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SallyintNorth - is there an art to making dried horse poo, or do you just leave it lying around for a bit? :thinking: Does it smell when you put it in the burner???
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Sally, I remember Jack Frost's beautiful patterns on the inside of windows, how many children have experienced that, these days? You had to "huff" a hole to look out.
But a lovely warm kitchen to get dressed in, an almost as warm cowshed, the real, warm comfort of the cows hay-smelling breath.
The contrast was worth the cold gettings up and the icy bathroom.
You've described our house Sylvia :) We have to scrape ice from the insides of the sash windows, we can see our breath some days. Our bath room has one of those electric wall mounted fire things still which is nice. rarely do we get coughs or colds apart from this year, the girls have had bad chests (2 of them anyway) which i put down to the weird weather.
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when we did high altitude trekking (everest base camp) it was well above the tree line and they use dried yak poo
they 'patt' it into squares and store it in the kitchen once dried
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In the old days (early 60's) our house didnt have central heating, we had a coal boiler in our morning room (breakfast room) and a gas fire in the lounge. We only went into the dining room on highdays and holidays and had a 2 bar electric fire in there. Nothing in the bedrooms, but at bathtimes we had one of those parafin heaters that made pretty shapes on the ceiling. Then we got central heating...heaven.
I have to say though that we dont miss the heating over here, we have a large woodburner in the lounge which sends loads of heat upstairs. Its backed up with electric radiators in the lounge, the bathroom, and the bedrooms, although we try not to use them, and havent so far this year. I also have a small woodburner in the kitchen which will also heat the downstairs bathroom as it leads off the kitchen. We have a conservatory on the back of the house and a porch on the front so that adds as insulation. The mornings can be a bit chilly unless we bank the fire up with large logs, but it only takes a minute to get the fire roaring again.
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:roflanim: :roflanim: I am loving this post, we are up for sale and I keep saying, we do not want heating on all the time, I would much rather have one cosy room with a Miltie fuel burner then a cold bedroom to snuggle up in :hug: ......I am not a fan of hot houses either"" they are far too stuffy for me but i do like the option of roasting in front of a fire......my ideal house will have a large kitchen dinner breakfast type room with either an Arga type thing as well as a cooker so it can be turned off, or a little log burner, then a sitting room with an open fire.....hot water can either be an immersion heater or backed up by the log burner etc.....a warm bathroom IS a must but otherwise, I think its healthy not having it too hot.
As a child we had hot water bottles, a bath once a week and that was it, just an open fire, later a gas fire.......I also remember those dreaded parafin heaters, get close to them and you would burn your leg, they often tipped over too and that smell, although niceish, got a bit over barring, we used to have one in the outside toilet as a child, that was to stop your bum freezing to the seat!! :innocent:
In a way its a waste to have the house so hot you go around undressed :innocent: I go around more dressed than when I take the dogs out although we can get the house warmish, its very expensive to!!
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Scour the charity shops for extra duvet and put one or two UNDER your bottom sheet. Personally I prefer the weight of an eiderdown and blankets to a duvet as the bed covers.
An extra dog on the bed makes all the difference :thumbsup:
Eat well, sounds daft but you wouldn't shut your goats away at night without a full hay rack, so don't go to bed hungry. Even if you put a little weight on that in itself will help you keep warm.
Make sure hands and feet stay DRY at all times. Good boots and socks are IMO the most important thing for cold weather.If you do get wet socks/gloves change them for dry ones ASAP.
Keep at least 3 days worth of wood indoors, then if things really do get bad, you have time to think about fuel. Same goes for food, root veg and eggs keep well and will keep you going.
Make sure you still get enough fluids, your body can't work without them ;)
Then just enjoy it! The frost will be killing off loads of bugs and nasties and the world is beautiful when it has been iced :D
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Happygolucky - so you can move in with us as we can tick box all on your list.
The thing is it is sod off cold in the winter but v hot in the summer.
3 days worth of wood to the heat the house will fill half our kitchen/living roon/dinning room ( or the room of life).
So - we have done heat - what about food in the old days?
Veg in the cellar?
Bottled beans or peas?
NO FRIDGE!
Meat under fat? Dried meat?
Stews ?
Oh - the french word for duck under feathers is duvet - we hope to make one after our 27th duck is plucked ;D
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I am not sure where you are MAK? We are warm tonight as we have guests, when no one is with us we have a big fire as we do have a lot of logs but, I like the idea of one room where you cook eat and live most of the time.......
I think we get used to the temp where we live, I could not move to Austrailia like my 2 daughters have, thats far too hot for me, I hate to be too hot as its harder to cool off than to warm up!!
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I don't think kids feel the cold, I can't remember it when I was wee and I don't think my kids feel it, we do though. We have reinsulated the whole house and have installed an aga in our new kitchen (we've not moved in yet, still living in our mill) so we can just live in the kitchen/dining area and not turn the heating on.
Electric bar fires / gas fires same as all of you growing up and central heating only when I was an adult - we do have an assortment of duvets for summer and winter although the winter one hasn't come off this year at all :raining:
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I do that 'living in one warm bit' thing. I live in a longhouse, ie one room deep. I live at one end, the kitchen has the Aga and there is a little sitting room off there that has in it a woodburner. My bedroom is directly above the Aga, so that warms that up but I have a woodburner in there too.
The rest of the house is unheated - the stairs are at the other end - and I just sprint through it, between the warm bits :D
I am always too hot in anywhere centrally heated - partly cos of being used to a 17th century stone house at 1000ft and partly because I am personally well insulated ::) It's become a standing joke with my colleagues that I'm fine when everyone else is shivering. Goodness only knows what will happen when I get to the age of hot flashes - I will probably melt into a puddle, like the tiger.
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HappygoLucky - Our Salon de Vie is just off the north side of the Mille Vache in France but still quite high up and miles from the warm Atlantic coast - so pretty much central France.
We have an electric towel rail too - nah ! But our stairs are outside the house but within the barn and the cold puts me off the trek to turn the towel rail on in the bathroom before my evening shave and shower. We messed up with converting the attic into our bedroom - too hot in the summer and freezing in the depths of winter despite hot air rising, 3 radiators and much insulation.
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well very intresting post The old man fits in a treat he only has plain food no heat only in the kitchin i live in a modern house he lives rough .He can go for weeks in the winter seeing no 1 for weeks he also has porridge for tea .in 2010 we worked all Christmas day till 3 just had sandwiches for dinner no think bothers him iff stock is all right that's it a pic from this morning
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I remember frost patterns on the inside of the windows. Our house was so damp that my parents saved up and had central heating put in the bedrooms. It ran off the fire with a back boiler in the dining room. Even with the CH my bedroom (in the attic) was so cold that I used to sit on the floor with my back to the radiator to read. Either that, or get into bed. We had a paraffin stove in the bathroom which was only lit on bath night. Necessary as we were only allowed about four inches of water to bath in. Our sitting room had an electric fire which we used to huddle round.
Give me my gas fired central heating any day.
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Well when we moved we found the boiler wasnt working. So in the living bit its a coal fire and bedroom we have an electric radiator and we stay warm the bathroom is cold. Then in the bar area we have fan heaters we leave one though the night to stop the toilets freezing up they probably would'nt any way the other 2 go on in the morning then 2hrs before we open the portable gas fire goes on. and the fan heaters go off the big log burner get lit just before we open and the gas fire goes off when thats warm. This is all to get it warm for when some one comes in most nights we must lose money. But will sort it all out next season :fc:
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We had Aladdin paraffin stoves. Looking back I don't know how we didn't burn the place down. I think we had about 30 gallons in the shed and a jerrycan with a spout for filling the stoves. They added massively to the water vapour in the air so the windows were always iced up. Later models had a water reservoir to put out the wick if the thing was knocked over.
They asked me how I knew
It was Esso Blue
I of course replied, with other brands you find
Smoke gets in your eyes
The living room had a "Courtier" room heater that ran on coke. Last thing a shovel of anthracite was supposed to keep it in all night.
After I left home in 1972 Dad bought a Super Ser bottled gas heater. Less messy but nearly as dangerous. Cousin Nellie was seriously injured when the gas leaked and blew up the kitchen.
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SallyintNorth - is there an art to making dried horse poo, or do you just leave it lying around for a bit? :thinking: Does it smell when you put it in the burner???
no, yes and no. No art, yes it's just as easy as leaving it lying around for a while and no, it doesn't smell. (Qualification on the last - we're full-time beef & sheep farmers with pigs & ponies too, it's possible there is a lingering aroma and we either don't detect it or don't find it at all offensive - but as far as I could tell there was no 'horse poo' smell.)
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MAK, I lived in a barn conversion that seemed to me, at first, to be 'upside down'. The bedrooms and bathroom were on the bottom layer, partially earth shielded as the barns were on/in a hillside, the main living and kitchen area was the middle layer and the sitting room, office etc were on the top floor. When we were buying the place we thought long and hard about how to get a bathroom upstairs so we could put the main bedroom on the top floor. It wasn't straightforward so we moved in as it was.
After living there 12 months no way would I have changed things. The bottom-floor bedrooms were less cold in winter, being so sheltered, and beautifully cool in summer when the top floor would have you removing a layer of clothing.
Before I found myself buying a farm up here, I had longed to find somewhere I could live the old way - animals below, generating heat to warm the human habitation above. I still think it's a good idea. You wouldn't need a calving cam - just a peephole in the bedroom floor! :D
We have a number of tricks to keep ourselves warm - the main one is using work to heat us; if you're in the house long enough to be getting cold, the best thing is to get off your backside and do some work, that'll soon warm you up! :D And when you come back in, the house feels warm as the air is warmer than outdoors, so you stay warm for long enough to have a meal, a hot drink and a wee rest - then it's time to do some more work. Woodburner on in the evening for a relax.
No2 trick is always put on warm dry clothes. We take the chill off pyjamas before going to bed (with hot water bottle in my case - BH likes an electric blanket, I don't); the clothes for morning are on the hot water tank; there's a little oil-filled electric rad we can use to dry outerwear, gloves, hats, wellies if there's no other available heat. We wear plenty of clothes, in layers is best, and you really can't beat wool. I've just made us both a pair of woolly slippers and the difference it makes to your whole body temperature is quite amazing.
As colliewoman says, get anything wet off as soon as possible and change for warmed dry.
As to food in the old days - well, I'm just about to wrap and hang a side of bacon to see how that compares to keeping it in packs of sliced in the freezer; root veg would be clamped; spuds and apples stored, then there's bottling / pickling (eggs, cabbage, beetroot, onions to name four obvious ones), cheese; grains can be stored. And I guess there'd always be fat you could use in place of butter (I used to love dripping on bread as a kid :yum:) - and when you're working hard in challenging conditions, you can use a higher-fat diet without risk, I think. And I suppose you'd have a few animals that you could slaughter as the winter progressed, provided you had hay or other feed to keep them going as long as you needed.
You don't need a fridge in winter if you've a larder or cold room. At Tinkers' Bubble, the Jerseys were fed a little grain and kept milking through the winter, though at a reduced rate. The buckets were stored in a fast-running stream - every bit as good as a fridge :) Milk for the 'house' was fetched by the jugful as required. When sufficient spare milk had collected, a batch of cheese would be made.
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We had porridge every morning, mum used to put a stone type thing in our beds at night. Can't remember what they were called. I used to get chilblains during the winter and she would put stuff on snowfire or something like that.Mum banked up the fire at night so in the morning there was still a slight glow and the sitting room was not so chilled for us getting ready for school. Knitted hats and pockies ( gloves without fingers which kept your hands warmer. Expect I have spelt it wrong but if you were child in the 50/60's then you will know what I mean. You were taught how to knit socks at school and sew, cook simple meals. What I remember most was the freedom we had playing outdoors. New year everything in the house was cleaned on the 31st before neighbours came to wish us well for the following year.There was never a lot of spare money if any but we had fun, family get togethers where everyone had to do their party piece. Just writing this has given me a warm glow, remembering so much of my childhood.
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Snowfire lives in my airing cupboard and without it I would have to have moved to somewhere warmer! :D
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Sabrina, you have just reminded me, Ma would put bricks in the oven of the stove in the evening, wrap them in a bit of blanket and put them in our beds. Bliss :) :) :)
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In the sixties Mum got tired of ironing flannel sheets and bought some fitted nylon sheets from Brentford Nylons. Great for her but they were astonishingly cold to get into, as were the nylon shirts that we had at school.
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iv just looked up a gallon of parafin £10 Whit would happen iff the cost was high then heaters lamps etc
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my granny used to warm my school shoes up under the grill of a cold morning, just remembered that and it put a grin on my face :D
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my granny used to warm my school shoes up under the grill of a cold morning, just remembered that and it put a grin on my face :D
One winter I had to warm the spark plugs for my vintage Morris Minor, (YFC - so Felicity) which I did under the grill. Most mornings I was up and away before the rest of the household stirred, but one morning my housemate came into the kitchen just as I took the plate of spark plugs out from under the grill and turned towards the backdoor, calling, "Come on Felicity - breakfast!" His face was a picture. :roflanim:
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Vf , use heating oil instead of paraffin , works perfect in lamps and heaters at a fraction of the cost .
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According to my SCARF thermometer, I'm long dead; it's been telling me for weeks that I'm in danger of hypothermia and I should turn the heating up... (How's that supposed to "save cash and reduce fuel???)
I'd love a wood burner - not only for the wonderful and potentially free heat (and cooking/hot water) it provides, but also for the fact it would give me something useful and warming to do, with having to collect fuel and keep the burner stoked. The council, however, only ever provide the most expensive and ineffective heating possible to those on low incomes, i.e. electric. The only good thing about not having a job is that I don't have to suffer the heat I used to endure in the office; it was usually 23 degree and my colleagues were complaining that "it was freezing". At the place where I now work Saturdays, the heating is crap and it rarely gets above 16 degree. Just right for me (with a woollen layer less than I wear at home), but everybody else, of course, isn't happy.
I have noticed, though, that the cat is a lot more affectionate in winter than in summer! She never usually hops up on my lap whenever I sit down to read or knit... And every night she spends in my bed, too. It's amazing how much warmth such a small body can generate.
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my first house, an army issue married quarter in the mid 80's didnt have central heating... it had overnight storage heaters that lasted about 3 hours before being cold
then i have had 25 years of central heating until this house.... just a wood burner, no radiators
the best thing this winter in the everhot stove... just enough to take the chill off,,,,, brilliant
I cant stand being too hot, I have mostly worked outside
scrounge wood from all sources, free is the best price for heat :excited:
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I remember those Alladin parafin stoves, my dad was a fitter on the railway so used to get it sort of free :innocent: the smell brings back memories and as for those Bri Nylon sheets...I loved them at first but they made you static, I remember comming out of hospital and my mum had done my bedroom up with bright pink fluffy bri nylon sheets, they were warm.....I think it must have been cold in those days but only remember getting dressed quickly.....and in the early years putting on the Liberty Bodice!!!!!
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Never had a liberty bodice - but cross-dressing was less common then :innocent:
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Never had a liberty bodice - but cross-dressing was less common then :innocent:
;D ;D ;D
One of the advantages of having no decent heating is that you don't need a fridge. I haven't used one for at least four years now.
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Our paraffin stove was an Aladdin. It worked well if you put the chimney on straight. I remember my ganddad lighting the stove one bath night and putting the stove on crooked. An hour later, the walls and ceiling were black with soot and my parents had to redecorate. Oops. I also remember the Esso blue song. And struggling homw from the shop with a gallon on paraffin when in my early teens, convicne my right arm was longer than my left by then.
When I bought my first house, in 1971, the only heating was one of those round paraffin stoves in the sitting room. I had a claustrophobic cat who went mad if the kitchen window was shut and meowed until it was open, then sat on the window sill and hollered to be let back in as soon as you put her out. As a result the kitchen was like an ice house in the winter. I used to feel like getting in the fridge to warm up. ::)
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I think that the 50s - 60s were such a great period as some of us grew up with the nostalgia and a bit of hardship of the old days but the promise of comfot, warmth and a more modern life. Imagine turning back the clock another 50 years !
My neighbours and me still heat the house with wood ( only), have no mains sewage or water waste, fill the cellars with whatever we can grow or pick, keep a pig, chickens rabbits and ducks for food and make whatever conserves we can. Photos of my neighbours in wooden clogs and the ox that was used instead of a tractor bring home how tuff life was in France just a few years back.
Now go back 200 years and imagine life in the Scottish highlands or moutains of wales or northern England.
Silly questions but did they have underwear ? How often could they bath in winter. Did they have scurvey? Did farmers shave every day and with what?
Wow = we have it easy.
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Now go back 200 years and imagine life in the Scottish highlands
Silly questions but did they have underwear ? How often could they bath in winter. Did they have scurvey? Did farmers shave every day and with what?
Wow = we have it easy.
the old farming books iv read stated that they just slept in their clothes, covered in dubs and muck which had dried to a crisp infront of an open fire. farm workers just slept in the bothy, just one room with a fire, where they ate and slept.
going back to old scotland - there was no underwear as people were too poor to afford it, they just had a pleat or 2 which wrapped around the waists and shoulders. we were shown how to wear them at culloden.
we never had central heating at all as kids, when the house was sold in 2005 with no heating the estate agent was shocked to see no central heating!
we have it now but choose not to use it cos its too expensive. we use a woodburner in one room and all sit together. now when my kids go to friends houses their faces go bright red as they are not use to the heat, and when friends come here they never take their coats off.
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Ah so I'm not the only one roughing it this winter ;D
It's like deja vue reading this - my mother & friend came to visit me today in my (30 yr old) static caravan, with bubble wrap over the windows, the old Parkray for a woodburner and me wearing four wooly pullovers.
They were reminiscing on how they grew up without central heating as I lit the Parkray.
Oh, and my mum's bought me some longjohns for christmas ;D ;D they should keep me legs warm :thumbsup:
marcus
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we never had central heating at all as kids, when the house was sold in 2005 with no heating the estate agent was shocked to see no central heating!
when we bought this house last year the survey report said
"there is no central heating fitted. In this day and age this is completely unacceptable!"
didnt want to point out we were no fitting any :eyelashes:
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when we bought this house last year the survey report said
"there is no central heating fitted. In this day and age this is completely unacceptable!"
Sounds like most council tenants and others in "affordable" accommodation live in "completely unacceptable" conditions. ::) But that's only the "undeserving poor", so that's ok.
It always amuses me to see this phrase in estate agents ads: "Property benefits from electric storage heating". Whoever wrote that quite clearly has never "benefited" from this kind of heating themselves... A wood burner, now that would really be a benefit.
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I couldn't agree with you more, Ina. Years ago, then-hubby and I had a long-term rental. We replaced the antiquated and useless storage heaters in with a milti-fuel burner in one room and a refit for the Rayburn (mainly new fire bricks, properly intalled and cemented in) in the other. We did this at our own expense - we knew the landlord wouldn't do it and we were happy that the rent being low and our intentions being to stay for many years, it would work out over the period to have been a good investment for us and the landlord. When we did come to move on, the landlord grumbled that he'd have to replace the storage heaters we'd removed. We'd lived there much more comfortably with the Rayburn and multi-fuel burner, and he understood that, but said he had to have 'central heating' installed to comply with the letting agency's criteria. ::)
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We'd lived there much more comfortably with the Rayburn and multi-fuel burner, and he understood that, but said he had to have 'central heating' installed to comply with the letting agency's criteria. ::)
How can that count as "central heating"? Even if my storage heater is almost in the centre of the house, it still doesn't heat the house...
Puzzled. ???
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How can that count as "central heating"? Even if my storage heater is almost in the centre of the house, it still doesn't heat the house...
Puzzled. ???
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maybe it means - turn it on and it works!
we are going thru 5 dustbins full of wood everyday, and its only me that cuts it up, it can get tiring. we have a woodburner cos we cant afford the heating bills. i do think with radiators, id have 60 mins more time everyday from not cutting wood, and less time sweeping up the dust from the fire.
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When I was at school I had a friend who lived miles from anywhere. There was no electric anything, they used oil lamps, a stream going through the garden was their source of water. She had a mile to walk to get the school bus in all weathers. Strange thing is I thought her house and family were wonderful so content.
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Didn't they make a programme about them Sabrina - Little House on the Prarie I think it was called! :D
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This is hard Too Long a winter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsP7CuLAwys#ws) HANNAH HAUXWELL
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Hannah Hauxwell - A Winter Too Many (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyV62SrT-c#)
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watched both of those, unfortunately lost the sound late on on the Hannah one, but maybe just as well quite sad to see her leave. thanks for that VF, there are times it feels like that for all of us I'm sure, but age gets to us all in the end, even with modern conveniences.
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i went dawn when she was leaving low Birk hat and seen her in her new house in co thistone the bainbridges still look after sheep lambing etc . Iv also don the trip up the tees .Very hard no power one Christmas she was that cold she slept in with the cows .When people say hard that's hard .yest-er day droving sheep on the west coast 1000 sheep in 10 miles radius 4 hour es on the quad nearly got hypothermia i was that cold ice every where taking all the bad sheep out the bloke had a stroke and he ha dent brought them dawn from the hills .so there was 40 needing attention got back 9.30 last night.I dont need work like that the higher we went the colder just ice and snow .
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My mother had the utmost respect for Hannah Hauxwell and Ma was very much like her, the same attitude to life and the same serenity in the face of fate.
VF, you take care and wear your thermals. You can certainly get 'round quicker on a quad but walking keeps you warmer.
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Spent the early nineties, on a tree nursery at the bottom of the Yorkshire wolds. Durind mid- winter, ice
defrosting on woolly hat then running down into windswept eyes, was the only sign of the temperature rising.
Using cling film on inside of window frames made a cheap double glazing sustitute.
One thing though never over laid once.
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Well Sylvia minus 3 top temperature to day so glad the barns are done all stock in makes so much better .The sheep i bought back. Done there feet wormed fed and to day lots of feed and fuss .Should all be OK before the end of the month .They will winter in the barns and lamb in march .
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Ah so I'm not the only one roughing it this winter ;D
I think there are a few of us. We are in a caravan on a north facing croft halfway up a mountainside. The ground has been white all but 2 or 3 days over the last 2 weeks. The lowest indoor temperature so far this winter has been -6 but most mornings recently it has been -2 or -3 indoors. Had to learn a few practical things about how to make things work eg. how to stop the door freezing shut and the bottom of the duvet freezing to the wall.
You really do get used to the cold and your body and brain adapt to cope with it.
Being out and about working on the croft keeps you warm all day.
Plenty clothes and a wooly hat are a must as is keeping dry.
I find I am eating a bit more that I used to (without putting on any weight).
In the old days the kitchen fire would be going from early morning to late night as it was needed for cooking, this would put a bit of warmth into the stones of the building.
The old blackhouses were probably not that badly insulated, 3ft thick walls with a turf core which would prevent drafts, a thick layer of thatch, earth floor (not nearly as cold on the feet as stone or concrete), low roofs and in the most basic houses no chimney (therefore no drafts (or insects as the house would be fumigated all the time), I guess lung cancer wasn't so high up peoples concerns then either!)
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The lowest indoor temperature so far this winter has been -6 but most mornings recently it has been -2 or -3 indoors.
:o Yikes! my worst indoor temp is +6 which is positively cosy by comparison; I'd better stop complaining ;D .
I think your right about the old stone houses - the worst aspect of a caravan is the speed with which they go cold when the fire goes out (I've stocked up my caravan with storage heater bricks (on the stove) and containers of water to increase the thermal mass
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The lowest indoor temperature so far this winter has been -6 but most mornings recently it has been -2 or -3 indoors.
:o Yikes! my worst indoor temp is +6 which is positively cosy by comparison; I'd better stop complaining ;D .
I think your right about the old stone houses - the worst aspect of a caravan is the speed with which they go cold when the fire goes out (I've stocked up my caravan with storage heater bricks (on the stove) and containers of water to increase the thermal mass
Yes, In the evenings we can get a quite comfortable +15 with the heater on but, despite the loft insulation ratchet strapped to the roof and straw bales around the edge, the heat is all gone by morning. I guess the opposite of an old house which might take weeks to warm up but should still have some residual warmth in the thick stone walls come morning time.
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My personal opinion,
Today there are too many wooses! ;D in those days people seemed much harder against the elements, you know, they do say~ even to me, "get some blood in yer bones" , especially when I visit friends in Scotland, I have to say the Scots are used to horrendously cold weather!
My Hungarian relatives speak of winters minus 20 and summers 120+, I really cannot understand why they keep asking me to go over every year! I find myself excusing myself politely!
Brrr, it is cold here today hehe!
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And I thought that we had endured some tough times in the cold. You guys in a caravan must have daily struggles to keep warm, have water and eat never mind looking after animals. Hats off to you all !
Today we celebrate 2 years in a stone farm house in the middle of France. Photos of the day we moved in show the snow, basic living quarters and an upstairs grannary. We slept on an air bed and fed the wood burning cooker throughout the night to keep warm.
year - 1 we had worked on the house a lot despite a hot summer and insulated it and replaced broken windows. We converted the attic grannary into our bedroom. Despite -24 in winter, no water for weeks it was not too bad.
year 2 - got my slippers on in front of a roaring fire ( wood cut and chopped by me) and we are drinking champagne.
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In the sixties Mum got tired of ironing flannel sheets and bought some fitted nylon sheets from Brentford Nylons. Great for her but they were astonishingly cold to get into, as were the nylon shirts that we had at school.
I had man-made pyjamas too, I used to get right under the sheets so it was completely dark then move my arms and legs around to see the little blue flashes of static electricity.
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In the sixties Mum got tired of ironing flannel sheets and bought some fitted nylon sheets from Brentford Nylons. Great for her but they were astonishingly cold to get into, as were the nylon shirts that we had at school.
I had man-made pyjamas too, I used to get right under the sheets so it was completely dark then move my arms and legs around to see the little blue flashes of static electricity.
Such simple entertainment we had in those days. :roflanim: At least if you caught light, you wouldn't burn but your PJs would have melted to the sheets.
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Ha, I had a favourite red jumper as a little girl, that make sparks when I took it off in the dark and made my hair stand on end - such fun ;D
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:excited: On Thursday went to fetch some sheep dawn from the hill it was minus 12 took all day it then started snowing .It was very hard ,you folks living in caravans would be tested in keeping warm .I do hope you have a Merry Christmas in the caravan and have a good day .If you lived by me you could come round for dinner and have some fun .To you all that are having it hard take care things will get better have a nice day.
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we havent used the central heating at all this year , just the woodstove in one room, but in the bedroom, which just been repainted, theres alot of water droplets on the ceiling by the windows, so much its leaving puddles and discolouring the walls. any ideas to stop this without resorting to putting the radiators back on? or stopping
breathing maybe?
ta
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I really do thing that those of us living in a caravan (or truck) have it easier to keep warm. A small space heats quickly on less fuel. I'm sat here now in just a tshirt and the burner is just ticking over nice and slowly :sunshine: toasty warm (but equally, I'm not in Scotland)
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we havent used the central heating at all this year , just the woodstove in one room, but in the bedroom, which just been repainted, theres alot of water droplets on the ceiling by the windows, so much its leaving puddles and discolouring the walls. any ideas to stop this without resorting to putting the radiators back on? or stopping
breathing maybe?
ta
If you feel flush you could get a dehumidifier (electric) or if not, you can get little tubs with water absorbing crystals (evil Tesco sell them for £1 and refills for £1 too) which will absorb a bit. But really dehumidifier unless ventilation can be improved. Iwill have a heat recovery system - they mean no need for all the individual vents thank goodness.
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If you feel flush you could get a dehumidifier (electric) or if not, you can get little tubs with water absorbing crystals (evil Tesco sell them for £1 and refills for £1 too) which will absorb a bit. But really dehumidifier unless ventilation can be improved. Iwill have a heat recovery system - they mean no need for all the individual vents thank goodness.
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thanks, i didnt know you could get them. i will try them. this room faces north so never gets a sunbeam.
i could open the window for ventilation but its just a wet outside as in, as wer on ground level :innocent:
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I have a dehumidifer - it does make a difference, and I think it makes it feel warmer in the house, too. Wouldn't get any washing dry otherwise! Ventilation is all very well - but if the humidity is around 70% indoors (normal for me), and between 80 and 98% outdoors (as it is at the moment) - ventilation will only make it more humid in the house! Must admit, there's quite a few slightly mouldy patches around doors and in the corners by now... Must have a good wash round with bleach or so one of these days.
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It's the mud that is getting to me. The dear dogs never complain about being cramped or even chilly, they'll put up with anything as long as we're together but I have to bite my tongue about the mud that's brought into the caravan.
I have to keep telling myself that we can cope, there are plenty worse off, people living on the streets with no income, no friends, no family and no hope. They would willingly swap with me!
AND, spring will come, hopefully early and lasting. :fc: :fc: :) :)
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sylvia, hats off to you, your one tough cookie.
but, if you ever need anything, and i can help, please do call. ok.xx
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Yes Sylvia , the mud gets me too , it gets everywhere . Impossible to keep up with washing clothes here as well . No way of drying stuff either , it does get very hard to cope with .
3 springer spaniels don't help !
The permanent wet weather is beyond this year , it seems as if there is no let up at all .
Still , the mud does dry in the end , and spring will arrive , hopefully before everything goes mouldy .
Take care and keep warm mate .
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Yes Friends a short winter will help ,we will soon be through December and only 2 months hard wether light nights march .I still think the coldist wether will be the end of January .Well have a nice Christmas and it will soon be spring .
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Just been out poo picking :o and it's positively balmy and springlike already :yippee: , long may it last .... except I would like a heavy frost on Christmas day just to make it festive :stocking:
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If I feel the urge to look at snow over Christmas, I'd rather study the Christmas cards. ;)
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If I feel the urge to look at snow over Christmas, I'd rather study the Christmas cards. ;)
So do I! Hard to feel "festive" if you are huddling against an ineffective radiator, trying to keep warm...
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Or scared to go out in case you slip.
It was beautifully :sunshine: here this morning but back to the :raining: now.
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Dark and drizzly all day. No prospect of change for the better over the coming days - just a bit of heavy rain as light relief...
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Dry today and the forecast good for tomorrow. Also a friend who's a cabinet maker gave me eight bin liners full of oak sawdust and shavings which I have put down in the gateway so that may soak up a bit of the liquid mud. I have taken to carrying the Yorkies and my friends mini-dacshunds in and out of the gateways in buckets otherwise they are swimming through it!
Dave, I don't think I'm tough so much as determined. I will not be beaten by this and all that cleaning gives me something to do.
I've always found doing something is the best solution to feeling down. :) :)