Charcoal Burning

One of the two charcoal furnaces in The Outwoods which was packed and fired by Heartwood Community Woodfuel Group on behalf of Charnwood Forest GeoPark. The other furnace will be fired tomorrow. This was a weekend event to enable visitors to understand how charcoal used to be made using wood from the forest. Numerous photos on sailcloth were stretched between trees on the path to the kilns.

Kevin, the man in charge, told us that it took around four hours to pack the kiln with dried wood and seal it with earth. It was fired at 6 am and he expected to be there until 10 pm tonight. He was taken aback when I told him that my grandfather, who used to be a farm foreman, used to dress for work like the labourers in the photos, which dated from the 1930s.

He was very informative. Heartwood regularly fire a kiln in South Derbyshire. We bought a bag of charcoal to take home, assured that it was top quality.

Earlier, we'd been into Loughborough for my hair appointment and to see Aziz.

Extra is of two wood pigeons sitting disconsolately on our fence in the rain.