If you burn wood in Surbiton, who is your firewood supplier?
Buying from petrol station forecourts, garden centres, DIY outlets and fireplace shops is the expensive way of doing it, so I prefer to have a load delivered in bulk bags or on a tipper.
I have used Easylogs.co.uk in the past which I believe come from Dorking and are well-seasoned but competition and choice is good so I've recently found Simon Levy in Coombe Forestry (based out of Richmond Park) and am awaiting his first delivery next week - I'd be intruiged to know who you use.
Before anyone makes the Clean Air Act point, this wood is being burned in a DEFRA-approved woodburning stove that complies with the Act as it applies to Kingston BC.
Many thanks!
John.
Comments
I have been trawling the net looking for competitive firewood suppliers. And found the thread of this conversation. I joined forum to find out who your wood supplier is at present, did you stick with Simon in Richmond?
Yep, have stuck with Simon, and he's picked up work from a few others I've passed the details on to as well. He's super-busy so you might have to be flexible on delivery times. He's not based in Richmond by the way, but some of the wood does come from the Park. The prices quoted below are probably no longer correct, the cost of diesel for example has caused Simon's delivery to rise to £120 for the 1.3 cubic metre tipper load if I recall.
Keep warm :)
John.
If you are looking for logs that are sourced locally and the money goes to a non-profit countryside management project then check out Horton Country Park. The Lower Mole Project (based in the cottage near the car park) sells logs (and charcoal) at reasonable prices.
Hi John
How have you been getting on with the delivery from Simon Levy? And how does that price compare?
I need a regular and well-priced firewood supplier...
Cheers,
Alisdair
Alisdair,
I wrote this post back in January I think and shortly after received my first delivery from Simon. This was in a trailer a load of about 1 cubic metre and cost £80. It was cut to 330mm and split (my specification as my stove only handles wood of this size). It was well-seasoned and under 15% moisture content. I was so happy with it that I ordered more in the summer (so it could dry even more) and in August this year Simon used his new tipper Land Rover to deliver about 1.5 cubic metres. This costs £110. I stacked up again two weeks ago (just to have plenty in reserve for the winter and to over-season in the summer).
It's brilliant that he cuts and splits it to-spec. Not sure how this could continue with every customer! I lvoe the fact some of it comes from managed forestry at Richmond Park. I've had really good Ash in the supply which is sub 10% moisture and burns brilliantly with no soot. Simon's got a stove himself so he understands stove users. He's a lovely chap and delivers curbside even at weekends - it can be tricky keeping a parking spot clear for him to dump the load.
I did a summary of suppliers last year, if you're looking a price per cubic metre
Logs n Stuff £129 (from Perth, Scotland)
WFP £85 (Cheshire)
Certainly Wood £127.86 (Hereford)
The Luddite £65 (Horley)
Bury Hill Topsoil £78 (Dorking)
Easy Logs £85 (Tadworth)
Logs for London £80 (London)
Simon Levy, Coombe Forestry £80 (Richmond Park & Surrey)
But definitely consider the quality of the wood and the service/convenience factor. I may have had a couple of bad lots from Easylogs but I did find the wood quite green and many logs were still 'in-the-round' too.
Logs2U are a major online supplier with a good website explaining wood fuel and their quality but to get low moisture content wood from them like Simon's your actually paying over £130 for just 1 cubic metre.
Happy to talk more -
John.
Hello John
Thanks very much for your brilliant reply!
I have been buying nets from garden centres and garages which is certainly not the way to do it. I did do a bit of research on some of the suppliers found here: http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTIT...
and was going to place an order at http://www.sondesplacefarm.com/wood_and_logs.html (was also going to order some meat!), but I will definitely give Simon a call now and organise a delivery from him. Sounds good. And I'd rather get it as locally as possible.
Hope that other people find this post useful.
Thanks again,
Alisdair.
Just to add to the information out there, I recently used Bury Hill Topsoil & Logs. They delivered an approx 1 cubic metre bag for £90 (on a Saturday), however a lot of the logs have a disappointingly high moisture reading (not just surface moisture) in excess of 20% and some are reading 30%.
I had earlier tried Southern County Logs who, despite having a snazzy website, happily took my money via PayPal (£140 for two bags) and then waited 2 weeks to contact me about delivery! The email addresses were bouncing back undeliverable and the phones were going straight through to voicemail. They said they had been very busy but that just doesn't cut it in my book, order cancelled.
Will try other suppliers for next delivery I think.
Hi I am workin tommorow in surbiton felling a large ash tree,if anyone wants truck loads of logs for 50 pound a load call me soon as 07594649313 thanks dan