You want one. You need one. You desire one. But what on earth is it called? Our world can get confusing, with a choice of ways to spell the products we sell. Chiminea is simply the Spanish word for chimney. It makes perfect sense bearing in mind the shape of the thing, with its elegant, […]
With the best will in the world, our forecasters can’t make decent predictions about the weather more than a few days ahead. There’s no way the weather people can pin down an entire ‘barbecue summer’ like the tabloids predicted a few years ago. They were wrong, of course. It was a particularly damp and chilly […]
Walk into any decent-sized garden centre or DIY outlet and if you’re lucky you’ll spot one, two, maybe even three or four different chimineas to choose from. Pah. Four? We, on the other hand, have an astonishing 86 beautiful clay chimineas to explore, everything from really neat and small to XL, in every imaginable colour […]
Are you watching the Chelsea Flower Show on TV at the moment? As usual, there are some absolutely spectacular garden designs to marvel at and get inspired by, some traditional, some contemporary and a few blending both to splendid effect. So what style is your garden? Modern, old fashioned, a mix of the two, or […]
Poor air quality has been all over the news like a rash recently. The Mayor of London has even gone so far as warning people about the health risks of simple stuff like waiting at a London bus stop. Despite the government being responsible for safe air in our cities and towns, they have failed […]
Fancy some Halloween fun? This time of year has become one of the biggest as far as outdoor events are concerned. Once a fairly minor celebration in the UK, in recent years we’ve almost outstripped the USA in our enthusiasm for Halloween, AKA All Hallows Eve. There’s a powerful Day of the Dead trend emerging, […]
When you fire up your chiminea, it smokes like mad. How come your chiminea is smokey? While there’s almost always a tiny amount of smoke, chimineas aren’t particularly smoky. It’s a design thing. Hundreds of years of trial and error means the design is extremely efficient and effective, minimising smoke. Using clean fuel like dry […]
Chimineas are wonderful things, transforming chilly outdoor spaces into cosy places to chat, party and eat alfresco, day and night. But, just the same as anything do to with fire, you need to take great care around them, especially when there are children around. According to ROSPA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, […]
If it’s been raining more or less non-stop since autumn where you live, you’re not alone. It has been a spectacularly wet and windy winter, and gardens all over the nation are looking well and truly ragged. How to maintain a chiminea You can use your chiminea all year round, of course. That’s […]
Want to know how to get your chiminea blazing? Here’s how I do it – without fail, every time: First off, no matter what your final, main fuel will be – charcoal, logs, etc – you must always start with the same 2 things: 1. What you’ll actually light. Lightly scrunched balls of newspaper work […]