[Womble]

Personally I love the cold weather we're currently having. Crisp winter days with sunshine and low humidity - I could walk about all day outside wearing just a fleece and a waterproof.

However, Mrs Womble isn't so lucky. She's only ickle, and though she comes out wearing eighteen fleeces, plus hat, gloves etc, she can't stick it out for long and soon has to retreat back to the wood burning stove!

I'd love to help her with this (or at least call her bluff as I currently have to do all the work!  ). So to all those coldies out there, what do you do to keep warm when working outside in this winter weather?  Is there some sort of skiing / polar explorer suit I could buy her that would help do you think?

[Mammyshaz]

Good thermal long johns and long sleeved vest under everything and two layers of socks. One thin and one thermal thick. A hat, long coat to cover most of the leg and warm thermal wellies/boots and a thermal hat. Those along with a good layer of comfy clothing is my routine. Warmth is the key 
Then a good deal of muscle power helps keep the heat up 

[Fleecewife]

Keeping your head, feet and neck warm is a great help.  Plain wellies are a disaster as the soles are so thin - I wear Muck Boots which are heavy but cosy, or winter walking boots, plus woollen socks.
If there's any amount of wind, I wear a long windproof jacket on top of a fleece - those silly short bum freezers are a waste of space.  I wear a fleece lined Buff round my neck and over my nose (discussed elsewhere on TAS) -plus a normal scarf, and a big thick Norwegian type hat with ear flaps.  If it's snowing a blizzard I wear ski goggles
Gloves are a problem for me as my peripheral circulation is shot, so if I'm not going to be doing mucky stuff then I wear electrically heated gloves, plus thinner liners - the batteries don't last long, but I'm going to try rechargeables. When I'm doing mucky stuff and have to wear thinner gloves, my hands are soon in agony.

Under that lot I wear wool, wool and wool.  One of my two vests is wool, the other synthetic, thick cotton knit shirt, then one or two chunky jumpers (hand spun  and hand knitted  from my own cosy sheep of course).
For my legs, I currently wear leggings, normal trousers and fleece overtrousers, plus waterproofs if it's wet, but woollen tights also work well as a base layer, or long johns as Mammyshaz says.

And again, keep doing stuff, as standing around is bound to be colder than working.

Just as well I'm not bothered with looking glamorous 

[Penninehillbilly]

I find this dry cold much easier to bear than a slightly higher temperature but damp, unless I'm handling anything wet I don't even bother with gloves, Woolly thermal hat is nice, body warmer under thicker jacket, thickish proper 'workmans' trousers.
I have some handwarmers, gel things with a bit of metal inside that you bend, then they heat up, put it in my trouser pocket and it helps keep blood warm and moving. just pop them in hot water to go fluid again for next time.
Only time I feel really cold is when I've been on the computer, sitting still for any length of time my feet and hands get cold, when you move this 'cold' blood is taken into your body, cooling the body core down. (Search and rescue chap told me that). so keep upper body moving (ie mucking out, digging, lifting bales etc etc  )
long sleeve thick shirts, vest (don't know the name for it, but material has lots of little holes that trap air next to the body for insulation),welly inserts.
Have you tried telling her she mustn't be working hard enough

[Bionic]

Keeping your head, feet and neck warm is a great help.  Plain wellies are a disaster as the soles are so thin - I wear Muck Boots which are heavy but cosy, or winter walking boots, plus woollen socks.
If there's any amount of wind, I wear a long windproof jacket on top of a fleece - those silly short bum freezers are a waste of space.  I wear a fleece lined Buff round my neck and over my nose (discussed elsewhere on TAS) -plus a normal scarf, and a big thick Norwegian type hat with ear flaps.  If it's snowing a blizzard I wear ski goggles
Gloves are a problem for me as my peripheral circulation is shot, so if I'm not going to be doing mucky stuff then I wear electrically heated gloves, plus thinner liners - the batteries don't last long, but I'm going to try rechargeables. When I'm doing mucky stuff and have to wear thinner gloves, my hands are soon in agony.

Under that lot I wear wool, wool and wool.  One of my two vests is wool, the other synthetic, thick cotton knit shirt, then one or two chunky jumpers (hand spun  and hand knitted  from my own cosy sheep of course).
For my legs, I currently wear leggings, normal trousers and fleece overtrousers, plus waterproofs if it's wet, but woollen tights also work well as a base layer, or long johns as Mammyshaz says.

And again, keep doing stuff, as standing around is bound to be colder than working.

Just as well I'm not bothered with looking glamorous 

Did you know fleecewife is only a size 10 but has to buy size 20 outerclothes to get them on on top of everything else 

[oor wullie]

I love the cold too, often the coldest days are the best days of the year.

For working outside nothing beats a thermal boiler suit.  I actually don't wear mine that often as I overheat if doing much work.

For hands some crappy rubberised gloves with a fleece pair inside.

For feet normal wellies but with ankle welly socks which keep your feet warm and stop your normal socks working their way under your feet and getting really annoying.

[devonlady]

I'm lucky (I suppose ) in that I don't feel the cold unless it's way below zero and I've forgotten my hat and gloves. I usually wear a short sleeved T plus a long sleeved one, one of Jim's jumpers (covers my bum!) a boiler suit and a fleece on top and on the bottom cotton trousers plus the legs of the boiler suit, Jim's thermal socks and wellies. Fleecewife, I know I live in the south west of England and you in the frozen north but how do you WALK in all that, I'd be flat on my face in the mud
The problem for me is hot weather. The two long, hot summers we've had, though great for the main crop spuds have been a torture to me. It's easier, I think to keep warm than cool?
Anyway, everyone keep warm as well as you can, only a few weeks now 'til summer

[claire]

welli am still in bed.. in a winter sleeping bag with a 10 tog duvet on top, hot water bottle on my feet, wooly hat, dressing gown with hood up and a padded waistcoat on.. I will emerge shortly and wear heat holders tights, a fleecy pyjama bottoms(couldn't afford fleece'trousers'.. )waterproof tousers, two pairs of socks, muckboots. a thermal vest, t-shirt, fleece jumper, fleece lined waistcoat, and as I'm not doing much work today on my day off I will wear a big thick padded jacket and a wooly hat. depends on wind I will pull the jacket hood up over the hat too.
this is my normal dress code from about October to may..

who says summer is only a few weeks away?? really? here we will wait about another four months for about three hot days then its back to the thermals again... lol

[Fleecewife]

Keeping your head, feet and neck warm is a great help.  Plain wellies are a disaster as the soles are so thin - I wear Muck Boots which are heavy but cosy, or winter walking boots, plus woollen socks.
If there's any amount of wind, I wear a long windproof jacket on top of a fleece - those silly short bum freezers are a waste of space.  I wear a fleece lined Buff round my neck and over my nose (discussed elsewhere on TAS) -plus a normal scarf, and a big thick Norwegian type hat with ear flaps.  If it's snowing a blizzard I wear ski goggles
Gloves are a problem for me as my peripheral circulation is shot, so if I'm not going to be doing mucky stuff then I wear electrically heated gloves, plus thinner liners - the batteries don't last long, but I'm going to try rechargeables. When I'm doing mucky stuff and have to wear thinner gloves, my hands are soon in agony.

Under that lot I wear wool, wool and wool.  One of my two vests is wool, the other synthetic, thick cotton knit shirt, then one or two chunky jumpers (hand spun  and hand knitted  from my own cosy sheep of course).
For my legs, I currently wear leggings, normal trousers and fleece overtrousers, plus waterproofs if it's wet, but woollen tights also work well as a base layer, or long johns as Mammyshaz says.

And again, keep doing stuff, as standing around is bound to be colder than working.

Just as well I'm not bothered with looking glamorous 

Did you know fleecewife is only a size 10 but has to buy size 20 outerclothes to get them on on top of everything else 

If only about the size 10 


devonlady - I can't move 

[Jukes Mum]

I really feel the cold. The key is definitely to get moving. If I sit in front of the wood burner for a while then I don't want to play out in the cold for long either. What works for me (including lots of layers) is to take the dogs for a brisk walk before tackling any outdoor jobs. Within 5 mins of setting off I have usually thawed and often get home with my hat in my pocket. Then I can clean out the chickens, bother the sheep etc for ages as long as I keep moving.
Oh, and Womble....hugs help too 

[RUSTYME]

Pretty cold here too .
I wear wellies , thin cotton socks , cotton undies , jeans , cotton t- shirt , cotton shirt ,  fleece/jumper , and wax cotton coat outside . Rarely do the coat up as i get too hot . I have started to wear a wooly hat at indoors , lol . The sun is out today ahhhh !

[Lesley Silvester]

I've always felt the cold but, since being less mobile, feel it even more. I simply can't move very fast or very far so never get a chance to warm up. I do wear lots of layers, starting with a thermal vest - a man's one as the women's ones I found were all very pretty with low cut, lace trimmed fronts. Not a lot of use really.


To go out to the goats, I have a fleece over vest, tee shirt, and a jumper or two. I find leggings under trousers help a lot and I bought some brilliant socks in Primark that are thermal. The only problem is they are so think that I can't get most of my shoes on over them. Two pairs of gloves.


When I do my voluntary work which involves being out until 5am, I have gel hand warmers which are great although they don't keep my fingers warm. I have a hot water bottle tucked in my vest.

[claire]

I can get quite uncomfortable wearing so many layers.. but haven't found an answer to it.. unless you can go off to an expensive outdoors shop and spend a fortune on what they have to offer...
and as I'm in this outfit all day everyday it does get somewhat wearing... I'm just sitting contemplating getting dressed and not too happy about it.

[Carse Goodlifers]

You can get thermal boiler suits too - very warm.

The cold aside - I love this weather too.  You can walk over fields without sinking in the mud etc.  Give me a hard frosty day over a cold and damp day anytime.

[Fleecewife]

Yes, Mr F wears a padded boiler suit.  His favourite is one he got at the Army Surplus store, which has the added benefit that I can't see him due to the cammo pattern    He genuinely merges into the hedges.  A boiler suit is quick and easy to get on and off compared with loads of layers, but I'm not sure you'd find a good one small enough for Mrs Womble.

PS it was minus 8 last night and minus 9 the night before and we haven't had a day above freezing for ages.  I too love it when it's cold and still.  I much prefer that to cold blizzard hail, sleet and snow coming in horizontally.  I usually find something urgent to do indoors on days like that 

For the gardeners amongst you, don't forget that in these conditions you can sweep up sheep pellets from the surface, all nicely frozen and full of hay, then keep them as pelleted manure to sprinkle round your plants for a summer boost.  Lidded licky buckets store them beautifully.