With a finished and restored original Victorian quarry tiled floor the large ingle nook fire place that once upon a time would have harbored a beautul Victorian cooking stove needed restoring back to being the hearth of the home, it needed a new heart that would love our family and keep us warm and feed us just as it was originally built to do. This cottage doesn’t have a mains central heating system and our aim is to keep it as off grid as possible. This hearth would have to cook again as well as heat. A side note that’s important to consider especially when wanting to justify such a project is cooking via wood is the healthiest was to cook would you believe, your lowering your emf exposure and your foods exposure keeping them already depleted vitamins and minerals more intact. It is a thing believe it or not!
I looked and researched several options and always come back to the Esse Bake Heart. It’s price not much different to a standard high range cooker but with the added bonus of it also being our central heating system, so in retrospect a cheap piece of equipment that would also always keep its value and out live us continuing to give warmth and food to the next generation. There weren’t any negatives to this so I took the plunge full heartedly.
It wasn’t a fun task getting it into the cottage, two strong men tackling a 200kg lump of mental wasn’t the most easiest of tasks, but turned out doable. Prior to its fitting I had the fireplace gutted, removing the wood burner, flue and register plate replacing with new and connecting back up to the four year old flexible chimney liner.
The chimney exposed was beautifully grand to gaze up into, 296 years of service to its families this cottage housed and loved.
Was fitted and ready to light the Esse Bake Heart felt and looks perfect.
The finish I am beyond pleased with, a new hearth to the home with a new rhythm to our new life here in this tiny crooked cottage in the Cotswolds.
The Bake Heart brings a sense of magic and wonder back into the cottage, welcoming back the slow living that only a wood fired stove can with the working companionship of woodland and hearth united again. My family home now has its heart restored and it’s one of the best investments I have ever made.