In the past I have repaired and swept two Franco-Belge Stoves for two different customers; one of the stoves was a Merville, whilst the other was a Montfort. The issue with these stoves is that the grate expands with heating and then cannot be removed

Here is a view of one of my brushes out the top of a chimney at a farm house close to Sturmer. Also in view is my van on the customers drive way. . The brush is actually not so much of a brush as

I noticed this Scottish Terrier on a thatched roof in Great Sampford on the road towards Little Sampford. In some ways this thatched animal does support my theory that thatched animals are mostly associated with hunting and shooting, but in a more tenuous way. Historically,

I recently swept a rather unusual Continental Stove at a house in Little Sampford. The customer told me that she had bought the stove second hand in France many years ago now. Apparently its previous home in France had been a rather fancy chateau! who

This is perhaps the most unusual thatched animal I have found so far, and is on a thatched cottage at the bottom of Roman Road in Radwinter. Although grey squirrels might be considered by some to be vermin and therefore worth shooting, I don’t think

May I wish all my customers and FaceBook followers a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
On a festive note I took a picture of this unusual stove pipe chimney recently following the fall of snow we had. I thought it looked vey

A customer recently contacted me to say that there was a really bad smell coming from an unused chimney in an upstairs bedroom. She went on to say that the smell had started when they had lit a wood burning stove in the room below.

More pheasants, I spotted these two on a roof in Water Lane, Radwinter at the Ashdon Road end. Pheasants would appear to be a popular animal to have on a thatched roof, which is perhaps not so surprising when you think just how many of

I recently swept a chimney in an upstairs bedroom in a house in Hempstead and was surprised to find that the chimney contained an old insect nest. In the photograph it is possible to clearly see the honeycomb structure of the nest as it came

I saw this pheasant on a newly thatched roof in Wimbish Green the other day; is this further proof that thatched animals are all about hunting and shooting? Or are they just themed on animals found in the countryside? What is for sure is that