Three or four hundred years of delightful (but very often smoky) fires in the open grate at the cottage - with much of the heat going up the chimney - have come to an end. On Tuesday 17th November Derwas of Welshpool fitted the new Herald Hunter flat top 8.5 kw multi-fuel burner (in a gale that almost blew Craig and Mat from Derwas off the roof as they put down the new chimney liner that will serve the stove!) and on Saturday 28th November a party of busy cottage smarteners and cottage re-decorators from the family fired it up for the very first time and were thrilled by the result. Not only does the new stove push out a great deal of excellent heat but it also appears that the problems of a smoky living room will have gone forever - no matter in what direction the wind decides to blow. And, at the same time, people sitting around the fire will have a gorgeous view through the stove's glass double doors of the fire burning merrily away.

The Herald Hunter 8 can be adjusted to burn anthracite or phurnacite and, eventually, when the cottage wood store of logs has sufficiently dried out (which we understand to do properly can take more than twelve months), it can burn logs.

Some weeks have already been booked for 2010 - see the booking and availability page for details. If you would be interested in a visit to Cyfannedd Fach in 2010, please ring John Hole at 020 8692 4729 or use the enquiry form.