Greetings from the grim North

[County4x4]

Hi all,

I've made a couple of posts elsewhere and it was suggested that I should pop one in here too, so here I am!

I'm Andy, and I'm based at the top end of Lancashire just a mile or so from the Cumbrian border.

In addition to my day job, I run a couple of small businesses - one supplying various products and delivering them to boats along the Lancaster Canal, and one specialising in eco-friendly wood fuels and charcoal. I'm guessing the wood side will be of most interest to the people here!

I supply firewood briquettes that are made in the UK - not imported like the majority of them. I've trialled no end of these over the years and firmly believe the ones I have now are the best on the market.

My charcoal comes from a woodland worker a few miles up the road in the Lake District, and is very high quality. I'm a big believer in this stuff - as well as being a world apart from garage forecourt/DIY store stuff in terms of performance and quality, the sales of it are helping to restore ancient coppice woodlands that have been long neglected, and this is good for the environment and therefore good for all of us.

I also sell kindling and traditional firewood logs - though I only sell good stuff. To be honest it makes me mad seeing completely unsuitable - and often unusable stuff being sold as firewood. I believe wood as a fuel is important - and will become increasingly so as fossil reserves run down - and people selling rubbish are not doing any good at all for "the cause" if you will.

Also looking at charcoaling our briquettes for BBQ use. This idea was fairly recent - as these were being developed more with a view to being a coal relacement for carbon conscious customers - but there seems to have been a fair bit of interest here, so we may well take this idea further!

Nice to meet you all!

Andy