Starting your day making a fire, for warmth, is one of the primeval experiences. It takes you back to a time before we had gas installed in our homes. And it’s not that far back, either. I believe it was the 1960s. Only 60 years ago.

I have lived in so many houses with real fires at the centre of the living room, and making the first I warm the water and the house was the first order of the day.