Building a good fire is an essential skill when glamping in the East Midlands.
The fire in the log burning stove in your yurt is what keeps you warm and toasty. Making a fire that burns well and for a long time is important, especially when staying in a yurt in winter. It’s fire that makes glamping in the winter a cosy option. Thankfully, this skill can be easily mastered! We have outlined a simple method with some extra tips and tricks so that you can build a fire in no time.
Step 1 – materials
To build a fire in the log burners in your yurt you will need the following:
Matches or a lighter
Tinder (fire starters, paper or wood shavings etc)
Kindling (small strips of wood)
Firewood (larger pieces of dry and seasoned wood)
At Country Bumpkin Yurts, we supply all of this for you. When staying elsewhere, it is worth checking beforehand if you will need to bring any of your own supplies.
Step 2 – building the base
Once you have all you need, it’s time to get the fire going.
Open the log burner (obviously) and pile your kindling loosely in the middle.
Place your tinder (fire starters, paper or wood shavings etc) on top of the kindling. Then light these using the matches or lighter. These will catch fire quickly and will cause the kindling to catch fire too.
You can now close the door of the log burner. Have the vent open at the front to allow a good supply of air to the fire.
Keep an eye on the fire to make sure the kindling lights before the tinder burns out. You may need to add more kindling on top of the tinder. Slowly and gently blow some air onto the fire.
Once the kindling is on fire, add firewood on top. Start with the smallest pieces first and give it a few minutes to start burning. Then add more.
Remember to close the door to the log burner after adding wood to protect the yurt from escaping embers.
Safety point: when the fire gets going, the log burner and flue will become really hot! Be careful.
Step 3 – keeping the fire going
With the fire going, your tent will soon heat up. And you can keep it hot by maintaining the fire.
You will need to continue adding logs to the fire to keep it going. Carefully open the log burner and place logs on top of each other. Tip: allow space between/ around the logs so that air can circulate.
Before going to sleep, add plenty of wood to enable to fire to keep going during the night.
If the fire goes out at any point, simply add kindling and tinder again. It will soon start raging again.
Step 4 – burning out
If you leave the fire, it will slowly burn itself out. Simply close the door the log burner and leave it be, there is no need to put it out yourself.
Once the fire has burnt out and the ash is cold, it can be cleared out and made ready for a fresh new fire.
Wood burning hot tub tips
Glamping with a hot tub is such fun, even more so when you build the fire yourselves. Our eco-hot tub needs a big fire to heat up. We like to build an upside-down fire for this as its easier to do in the deep metal firebox. The sense of achievement added to the relaxing soak in the tub is a great feeling.
For this method, we start with a layer of big logs on the bottom. Then add smaller logs, then kindling. The tinder (firelighters etc) goes on the very top. Check out our video on how this is done. With this method, the fire starts at the top and the hot embers drop through to the layers below and light the wood there. The time it takes to heat the water to 35-40 degrees celsius depends on the size of the fire and the starting temperature of the water. It’s best to allow at least 3 hours and keep topping up the logs on the fire.
So, there you go, with your new fire skills, you are ready for a glamping adventure in every season! Happy fire building!
Now you know how to build an awesome fire – glamping in the East Midlands is now an all year activity for you! Why not book a last-minute glamping break with friends this winter? Check out our availability and book here.
