Sporting Life: the chimney sweep, a well-kept log store and a fire after the field

Unlike previous years, we remembered to book the chimney sweep a number of weeks before autumn approached and with it, the need to light either the wood-burner or open fire. Efficient to a fault, I also have a load of recently purchased, well-seasoned logs neatly stacked in readiness for the colder weather.

Incidentally, I’m very proud of my log store – not only do I like it neatly stacked at the outset but, as they are required on a daily basis, I always try to take logs in such a way that it never looks messy and uneven. What that says about me is for others to comment.

A little like when first getting into a taxi and – by way of starting conversation – feeling compelled to ask the driver whether they’ve been busy, I fell into a similar trap when the chimney sweep arrived. By way of an answer, he told me that his appointments diary had been full for a while and that work was always hectic between the beginning of August and Christmas.

I wonder whether the career of chimney sweep is a dying or increasing profession. I suppose it must depend on whereabouts they operate and whether or not there are any local bylaw restrictions on burning certain types of solid fuel. While some modern houses may not even have traditional fireplaces, the older country dwellings are almost invariably thus equipped.

Log fires as a source of heating

For the most part, country dwellers (and chimney sweeps) remain reasonably lucky in that, despite what is sometimes said regarding smoke being damaging to the environment, log fires remain a popular and practical source of heating.

There can be few things more atmospheric than, on a crisp autumnal morning, being out in the countryside and, in the distance, seeing lazy trails of smoke rising from the chimneys of sequestered village homes tucked away in the valley.

It’s a scene reminiscent of the Charles Tunnicliffe illustrations in What to Look for in Winter – one of the Ladybird “What to Look for …” series of children’s books – which are so wonderfully evocative that you can almost smell the wood smoke.

Dry, well-seasoned logs and the Firewood Poem

Despite the series having first been published well over half a century ago, during which time rural life has undoubtedly changed – and not necessarily for the better – there still tends to be a ready source of logs in the countryside. Whether you gather them and cut them yourself or buy from a local woodman, they obviously need to be dry and well-seasoned, not only to burn well but, most importantly, to prevent a build-up of sticky sooty residue in the chimney or even the glass front of the wood-burner.

Some types of wood are, of course, superior to others when it comes to burning; I’m reminded of The Firewood Poem reputedly written by Celia Congreve and thought to have first been published in The Times newspaper in March 1930.

There have been various versions of it since but, in all, the general gist suggests that, while “beechwood fires are bright and clear, if the logs are kept a year” and “oaken logs, if dry and old, keep away the winter’s cold … ash new or ash old, is fit for a queen with crown of gold [and] ash wet or ash dry, a king shall warm his slippers by.”

Whether king, queen or commoner, sitting by a robust log fire with a tumbler of Scotch, gin and tonic, or glass of wine after time spent out in the fields and woodland enjoying whatever seasonal fieldsport takes your fancy is, without doubt, the perfect culmination of the day.

Jeremy Hobson was a gamekeeper for over 30 years, regularly hunts and occasionally fishes, and is the author of over 30 fieldsports and country-based books.