Yes, its time for some more thatched animals; here is a lamentation of swans from a house in Debden where I was working last week. The British collective noun for a group of swans, but they can also be referred to as a Bevy, which I believe is an American version? The Americans also refer to a group of swans in flight as a wedge. Either way this collection are rather beautiful and elegant sailing across this Debden roof top. The customer told me that the roof was rethatched around four years ago, and it is still looking like it was just recently done, a splendid piece of thatching I think you will agree.

The house historically was a public house; online the licensees of which can be found dating from 1832, a John Mansfield right through to 1899 when the licensee was a William James Tannt. It was named the Ship or Old Ship whilst it was operating as a public house, although it would appear to have been private dwellings for some time now – search: https://pubwiki.co.uk/EssexPubs/Debden/ship.shtml

The building is now divided into two cottages and is Grade two listed. As you can see the heating appliance is a rather magnificent Clearview 750 Multi-Fuel stove, which the customer reports being more than adequate for his requirements. There are some photo’s of me cleaning the flue. I have had a quick look at poems about Swans, and here are some of the ones I liked best:

The Swan – S. F. Flint
Under the lily shadow
and the gold
and the blue and mauve
that the whin and the lilac
pour down on the water,
the fishes quiver.

Over the green cold leaves
and the rippled silver
and the tarnished copper
of its neck and beak,
toward the deep black water
beneath the arches,
the swan floats slowly.

Into the dark of the arch the swan floats
and into the black depth of my sorrow
it bears a white rose of flame.

Graceful Swan by Elegantni Lebed

On Vltava waters
I saw a Graceful Swan,
Peaceful and modest
Full of quiet confidence
She looked like a Fawn

I fall in love with her
From thousand miles away,
Frightened of thoughts
My crazy mind created

Swan spread her wings
To save me from darkness
I was one step away from jumping,
She embraced my sadness
And it felt like a heaven
Invited me to her secure haven

She patiently waited
Playing down her strength
Showing me a way to the calmness I crave

Above Vltava flow
In my mind I see
Gorgeous Swan dances
Twosome with Firebird

I came across this La Nordica Extraflame Domestic Pellet Boiler at an address in Stisted recently, and thought that it would make for a interesting blog. Although I do come across domestic pellet boilers in people’s homes, they are rather rare, and I can think of only a handful of examples that I do in the area. It certainly makes a bold statement in the room, this example heats both the central heating and all the hot water for the property. As the name suggests, the appliance runs off compressed wood pellets that are automatically fed to the appliance from a hopper. It has a very large glass frontage to the door so that the customer gets the full benefit of the flame effect when the appliance is in operation. The customer is more than happy with the systems performance and would recommend such a system to others who might be thinking of going renewable.

La Nordica Extraflame are an Italian Company based in the North East of Itally, originally concerned with making electrical heating appliances, they switched to making wood burning appliances in 1968 and now export to over 50 different countries. They make a huge range of pellet and other biomass boilers as well as wood-burning stoves, fires and cooking ranges. The pride themselves on developing the field with technological advancements in wood-burning appliances.

La Nordica Extraflame

104 Via Summano, 36030 Montecchio Prcecalcino VI, Italy

info@extraflame.com

info@lanordica.com

https://www.lanordica-extraflame.com/en/company

Here is another stove that I had not come across before, a J. R. Workshop Double-sided Nova Multi-Fuel Stove, that I swept at an address in Withersfield recently. The stove is fitted into a large bungalow, with a substantial sitting room on one side and the dining room/kitchen on the other. The customer stated that it is a very efficient appliance, which heats all these rooms more than adequately. He said that prior to installing the stove he had done a lot of research to find out which stove would work best in his home and that he had found this J. R. Workshop Double-sided Nova Multi-Fuel Stove

He said that J. R. Workshop are a small family company in Leicester and that they make stoves to order as well as coming to fit them. He said that they had been making stoves for over 25 years and that the were very friendly and helpful. He said that he would recommend them to anyone.

1B Radnor RoadLeicesterLeicestershireLE18 4XY

0116 278 4448
www.nova-stove.co.uk

Those of you who regularly follow my blog will remember that about a year ago my youngest daughter Katie joined me for a day’s work experience – This was part of fulfilling part of the National Curriculum in year 10. Well recently my eldest daughter Emma joined me for a full day’s work. This was not to fulfill any requirements of the National Curriculum, but Emma was at a lose end after not having to sit her A-Levels (Due to the Covid situation), and did not want to be outdone by her sister. We had quite a varied day of work on the day and covered quite a bit of ground.

The photo is of her outside an address in Epping where we swept two open fires. Emma said that she really enjoyed the day, especially driving between the villages to get to the jobs, but she went on to say that she didn’t think chimney sweeping was the job for her – Far too dirty a job! It didn’t seem that long ago that I took Emma on her year 10 work experience, in those days I was still a DS in the Met Police working on the East London Criminal Finance Team SCD7. One of the things we did that day was to go to Snaresbrook Crown Court and obtain a Bank Production Order. The judge was very kind after the Court Clerk had told him why Emma was there, and she was able then to meet the judge in his chambers. He took the time and trouble to explain to Emma his role and responsibilities.

I recently swept this ACR Neo 3 Wood-burning Stove at an address in Saffron Walden; in fact I have been sweeping the flue for this stove for the past few years now. I thought it would be good to include it in my blog though as not only is it an attractive stove and a very neat installation, it also has a rarity value. ACR stove are relatively few and far between in this area, but this is the only ACR Neo 3 Wood-burning Stove that I sweep and as I cover a relatively large area, I think this makes it a rare. What I really like about this stove is that it fits very well into its surroundings, a contemporary stove in a modern house.

ACR seem to specialize in contemporary stoves and they have a large range of different models, including: the Birchdale, Oakdale, Ashdale, Rowandale, Larchdale, Elmdale, Earlswood, Malvern, Wychwood, Novus, Buxton, Astwood, Tenbury, and Trinity, as well as four different versions of the Neo, 1W, 3F, 3C and 3P. ACR have been making stoves for over 30 years and are based in Birmingham the West Midlands.

ACR Heat Products,

Unit 1, Western Works,

Western Lane,

Birmingham B11 3RP

01217068266

https://www.acrheatproducts.com/

I realized this week that I have not had a blog of a thatched animal for quite some time now, so this week I thought I would put that right! All work and no play and all that!

These pictures of a running horse were taken at a cottage close to Great Bardfield, so tucked away, if you didn’t know where it was you would have extreme difficulty finding it. The customer has recently had the thatch ridge redone and added that horse as they keep horses themselves, three in fact. I was there to sweep the flue to their Yeoman Devon Mk1 stove that was fitted by the previous occupants over 30 years ago now. You wouldn’t believe this as the stove has been so well looked after it still looks almost new. Claire was quite taken with the thatched horse though, being a horsey person herself and she spent some time fussing the customers three horses in their stable.

Looking on the web there are a huge number of poems written about horses; I should think that there are more poems written about horses than any other creature? He are just a few that caught my eye:

Horse by James McDonald

To honor a friend,
That many have known,
To capture the words,
That action has shown.

Like a horse set to flight,
A pen dashes around,
And words fill the page,
like rocks on the ground.

With grace in their heart,
May the world hear them say,
That the horse is our friend,
Because there’s no other way.

And to you at the edge,
Of your poetic filled voice,
Charge in like a horse,
As if there was never a choice.

The Stallion by Walt Whitman

A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive
to my caresses.
Head high in the forehead, wide between the ears,
Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
Eyes full of sparkling wickedness, ears finely cut,
flexibly moving.
His nostrils dilate as my heels embrace him,
His well-built limbs tremble with pleasure as we
race around and return.

The Horse by William Shakespear

I will not change my horse with any that treads…
When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk,
He trots the air; the earth sings when he touches
it.
“The barest horn of his hoof is more musical than
the pipe of Hermes…
He’s of the color of the nutmeg and of the heat of
the ginger…
He is pure air and fire, and the dull elements
Of earth and water never appear in him,
But only in patient stillness his rider mounts him…
It is the prince of palfreys. His neigh is like
The bidding of a monarch, and his countenance
Enforces homage.

The Horses of the Sea by Christina Rossetti

The horses of the sea
Rear a foaming crest,
But the horses of the land
Serve us the best.

The horses of the land
Munch corn and clover,
While the foaming sea-horses
Toss and turn over.

Say this of Horses by Minnie Hite Moody

Across the ages they come thundering
On faithful hoofs, the horses man disowns.
Their velvet eyes are wide with wondering;
They whinny down the wind in silver tones
Vibrant with all the bulges of old wars;
Their nostrils quiver with the summer scent
Of grasses in deep fields lit by pale stars
Hung in a wide and silent firmament,
And in their hearts they keep the dreams of earth
Their patient plodding furrowed to the sun
Unnumbered springs before the engine’s birth
Doomed them to sadness and oblivion.
Across the swift new day I watch them go,
Driven by wheel and gear and dynamo.

Say this of horses: engines leave behind
No glorious legacy of waving manes
And wild, proud hearts, and heels before the wind,
No heritage of ancient Arab strains
Blazes within a cylinder’s cold spark;
An engine labors with a sullen force,
Hoarding no dreams of acres sweet and dark:
No love for man has ever surged through wire
Along the farthest slopes I hear the rumble
Of these last hoofs-tomorrow they will be still;
Then shall the strength of countless horses crumble
The staunchest rock and level the highest hill;
A man who made machines to gain an hour
Shall lose himself before their ruthless power.

Well, I had not seen one of these before, the Interoven Goodwood Stove – I swept this one recently at a farmhouse just outside Hempstead. The customer told me that her father had installed the stove in the late 1940’s when he had renovated the farmhouse. She said that she believed that the stove was secondhand even then, and that her father had picked it up somewhere at a reasonable price. Worryingly, she told me that she believed that the stove had not been swept since it had been installed. This I believe proved to be the case, the chimney was incredibly dirty and was full of rather dangerous tar deposits. How the family had not burned the farmhouse down, I just don’t know! In the end I removed a couple of large trugs full of tar and soot from what is a relatively short run of chimney!

I have had a look on the internet and it would appear that the Interoven company ceased trading some time ago. There are some interesting historical adverts for the company dating from Victorian and Edwardian times right through to the 1950’s, but nothing after that. These advertisements are worth a look, just to see how quirky they are and for their historical interest! With straplines like “the original not a pirate” and “how to reduce gas and coal bills, a heating miracle”. Check out Graces Guide to British Industrial History – https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Interoven_Stove_Co

Yes, Last week we returned to work in London when we swept the biomass boiler flue at the Arches Apartment Block in Childers Street Deptford. This apartment complex is rather large, occupying as it does half the length of one side of Childers Street which is quite a long road. The Gilles biomass boiler that provides the heating and hot water for the complex is rather sizeable at 55Kw rating, as can be seen in the photographs. The biomass boiler is situated in a basement boiler room below a seven story section of the complex, so as you can imagine it is rather tall flue, running as it does from the basement up seven stories and out on to the roof. The flue itself is integral to the building, i.e. running inside the structure of the block as opposed to along the outside. In total this meant that there was over 30 Meters of flue that required sweeping. The system operates on wood pellets which are fed into the boiler from two large hoppers. These hoppers are in turn filled with pellets via access hatches at street level.

The agent for the management company told me before I commenced the work that the system was 10 years old. However, the system had only been run for the first 5 years of its life and had lain dormant and unused for the past 5 years. In all this time the flue had never been swept. The management company were having the chimney swept in preparation for recommissioning the boiler prior to its reuse in the coming winter. Surprisingly, considering the amount of time had passed without sweeping, the flue was not particularly dirty. Although a reasonable quantity of soot was removed from the flue, it was not consistent with the amount of time the system had been operational and dormant. As expected, though the soot was very fine in nature. The management company who are new to looking after the complex have wisely determined to have the flue swept annually.

Gilles Biomass Heating are a West Country Company based at Unit 215B Holme Lacy Road, Hereford HR2 6BQ 01432513777 office@gilles-biomassheating.co.uk

https://www.gilles-biomassheating.co.uk/contact/ – They have been developing biomass boiler systems over the last 25 years.

Yes, I have a new partner, well a new business partner! My wife Claire finished with the Metropolitan Police a couple of weeks ago now and has joined me in the business. She doesn’t actually officially retire until 1^st September, but until that date she is using up her rest days owed and annual leave entitlement, so to all intents and purposes she is retired. For the past few years Claire has been working as a Murder Detective in London’s East End, so is finding the sweeping work a pleasant, less stressful change! Swapping the streets of East London for the green fields and pretty villages of the local area and the somewhat less than pleasant usual police clientele for all our lovely customers.

Although, Claire won’t actually be doing any sweeping work she will be helping a great deal; helping set up, moving equipment to and from the van, talking with customers, doing the paperwork and taking bookings. To this end she has already made some significant changes. We have moved into the 21^st Century with a computerized booking system that Claire is in the process of implementing. This system tracks all jobs, sends reminder texts, plans and directs you to the jobs, automatically completes any require documentation and feeds into an accounting package. Customers can also track our progress on the day of the appointment to see how close we are getting to their appointment and what our actual ETA will be. To run the system we have invested in a new iPad and iphones which have much greater memory capacity allowing us to do all the things I have described.

The humorous card Claire received for her retirement was actually made by a family friend in Wales; I think it is rather well done as well as being funny! I do so like her fetching Learner L-Plate pants! I’m sure she really does have a pair like that???? The bit I’m shouting to her at the bottom of the card reads as follows: ” Claire, how many times must I tell you! Don’t forget to let go of the brush!” I think the little yellow help flag should from hence forward be a standard piece of equipment on the van!

All joking aside, it has been so nice to have Claire working with me, the company and chats and laughs we have during the working day is great and make the day such fun! Its not like being at work at all. Claire is also a great help, and being a farmers daughter she is very practically minded which is an added benefit. The old adage about a labour shared being a labour halved is so true and an extra pair of hands making light work! It has amazed me what a difference she has made, allowing us to get through more work during the day, more quickly and more professionally. Well done Claire, the future of Walden Sweeps is looking good!

This week one of my jobs was sweeping this Wanders Economic 60 Cassette Multi-Fuel Stove at an address in Ashdon. I thought that I would include this stove in my blog as I don’t do many Wanders stoves and this is the only Wanders Cassette stove that I have come across. So, I have included here it out of interest more than anything else! In the correct setting a contemporary cassette stove can look rather effective and attractive, I think you will agree. Although I know that contemporary is sometimes not to everyone’s taste.

The stove has an unusual double baffle arrangement, with a small hinged bracket over the mouth of the flue and a longer oblong baffle lower down the roof of the stove – This is the baffle that can be seen in the photograph, and which as you can see has been overfired and is reaching the end of its serviceable life.

Wanders are a Dutch company who were established by Henk Wenders and commenced production in 1960’s. Henk Wanders bought an old farmhouse in the village of Netterden close to the German border and obtained the necessary permits and permissions to commence metal processing in and around the farm. In the beginning Wanders supplied metal products mainly to other metal companies, but because their products were so popular and because of the advanced technologies they used the business began to grow. Wanders were the first company in the region to work with laser-controlled machines. Through acquisitions and the use of advanced technologies the company expanded steadily and they extended into stove production. Eventually a whole factory was built on the site that employs a large number of local people. Wanders now not only makes fires and stoves, but constructs mobile chalets, the manufacturing of rope and the produce steel storage racks.

Wanders Fires & Stoves

Amtweg 4, 7077 Al Netterden

The Netherlands

(0)315386414

info@wanders.com

https://wanders.com/en/