Just as well I decided today was the day to charge my car battery. At the time of writing, I’m waiting for the announcement that England is once more to go into lockdown, the kind of lockdown we had in March.
However, this morning, I had no idea about a lockdown being so close and I had a mission. Over the last few months, I’ve been mulling over ways of improving the house, including heating it. I’d thought of getting an Aga heat storage oven as a way of killing two birds with one stone, which is how I stumbled across the more eco friendly alternative, the Everhot oven.
After much consideration, I decided this wasn’t the right option at the current time but still fancied the idea of heat storage. So, off we set for the Everhot showroom near Skipton, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales and Wharfedale.
When we set out from home it was reasonably warm and even on the sunny side but as we headed north and the altitude increased the landscape became a much more wintery one, albeit very pretty.
When I enquired about room heaters, I expected to be shown something resembling a conventional electric fire. Indeed, we were shown one for comparison, but we’d already fallen in love with the Everhot mini electric stove.
It might not provide all the heat we need but it looks so chic as well as being enough for our cooking needs. So, feeling quite a buzz of excitement we set off for our next port of call in Horsforth.
A friend who lives there had a Christmas cake for us – and ash from here wood-burning stove. We also wanted to pop into the zero waste shop. But there was an unexpected twist to journey towards the warmer climes of Northwest Leeds. A large van and a large car couldn’t pass each other on the rather narrow lane and the driver of the latter was non-too-pleasant.
Suffice to say, after an amount of huffing and puffing and general rudeness, the car reversed passed me and the considerably more pleasant van driver was able to drive past me in the conventional manner. Then all was well again.
I just saw the Guardian link regarding your lockdown. It’s so stressful. Here our ICU beds are full or near capacity. It’s frightening to think that if you had a stroke or an auto accident, the beds are already full.
I’m glad you had some excitement over your new heater/stove. I’ve not heard of such a thing, but it sounds like a great way to warm your home.
Hello Alys, I’ve just read about the new restrictions. Overall, it won’t make much difference to my life but it is definitely a worrying time for us all.
I hope you are well in any case and that you remain so 😊
Thank you, Helen. We’re all healthy, and doing our part to remain so. I’m glad you won’t be heavily burned by your new restrictions.
That’s good to hear, Alys!
My daughter is actually thrilled to be doing her schooling at home for at least a couple of weeks, as it is dismal walking 2 miles up and down hill when it is dark and perhaps frosty to get there.
I’m happy to hear that she’s enjoying her schooling at home. Four miles of walking in dark, frigid conditions can’t be much fun.
Indeed not! And we are still allowed to meet one other person for a walk, so she can see her best friend at the weekend 😊.
That is good to hear.
😊
very nice foto
Thank you, Arno 😊
It is good that you managed to get out in time
Thank you, Derrick. I will treasure the memory 😊
🙂
I wish I had known about everhot stoves when I did my kitchen. Glad you got out and the battery charged while you could. When we lived in Devon the definition of a tourist was said to be ‘Someone who cannot pass you on a narrow lane – ie someone who panics when they have to reverse back to a passing place! Sty safe and enjoy your new stove.
Thank you! I haven’t bought the stove yet – still thinking about it but it does look the best contender 😊
The van should have observed the sign saying no HGVs. I think that’s why people were getting agitated. However, the situation resolved itself in the end.
We put in a pad for a wood stove here so we could cook and heat in a power outage, but have not done it yet, and may not because of the solar roof panels. Worst case I build a campfire outside and cook on it.
Sounds like you’ve got your bases covered, Lavinia 😊
The stove I was looking at is electric-powered, so would be no good in an outage. But I haven’t had an oven since I moved in here 11 years ago, so I’m used to doing without.
Wharfedale sounds like a nice place, even the name is special. As I am not very familiar with the English geography I don’t know where about you were, but I enjoyed your journey. (must have a look at google earth)
Wharfedale is northwest of Leeds, heading towards the Lake District, if that means anything to you?
I heard that the Lake District is very beautiful.
It depends on your tastes. My parents had a guesthouse there about twenty-five years ago and I stayed with them for about six months. I enjoyed some nice walks but like much of the countryside, it’s been damaged by farming and tourism.