Come see it burning

There is a limit to what a photograph of a fire can tell you. It cannot tell you how much heat comes off the front of a soapstone stove, or how a cast iron door sounds when it closes, or whether the flame on a particular gas unit looks like a fire or like a picture of one.

So we keep them burning. At least one wood burning product is working through the colder months, and all the gas products are live. You can turn them on yourself, watch the flame come up and feel the heat come off the glass.

What to bring

• A photo of the outside of the house, so we can see where a chimney can go
• Measurements of the fireplace opening: height, width and depth, plus the hearth
• A photo of the fireplace, and of the chimney where it comes through the roof
• Rough room dimensions, and which rooms you actually want warm

None of that is required. It just turns a two-visit conversation into a one-visit one. There is a fuller list on the before you shop page.

Nobody will follow you around

Walk the floor. Open the doors. Ask the hard question about what you read online. We would rather spend forty minutes talking you out of the wrong unit than five minutes selling you one.