Q. We are renovating an old cottage and are interested in fitting a Wood Burning Stove as we have heard they are a green energy option and they really go with the age of the cottage. We also like how warm and welcoming they will look in a living room.

A. You can fit a Wood Burning stove either just to heat your living room (as you seem to be suggesting) or fit it with a back boiler to heat your water as well. This second option is likely to be cheaper than traditional fossil fuels if you use wood, wood chip or wood pellets in your stove, though you will need to have your wood burning stove alight much of the time when you need hot water. A room heating option is easier to manage.

There are two areas you will need to consider, firstly, you will need your chimney checking and it will probably need a liner fitting which will not be cheap – and if you don’t have a chimney you will still need a flue.

Your fuel will only be green and reasonably priced if you can buy in bulk – by the lorryload-locally. You will need somewhere dry to stack and store the wood which takes up quite a space. It is also possible to make bricks out of newspaper – soaked in water to a pulp, formed into a brick and then dried which is an excellent way of recycling but make the most of summer to dry them!