B eyond the reach of the gas mains, there is tension about the coming winter. Many rural homes have an open fire or wood burner, but most rely on kerosene oil for hot water and heating. Since the US-Iran war began, its cost has more than doubled. Currently, 1,000 litres (lasting 10-12 weeks) is £1,219. A year ago, it was £549. Seasoned wood is in demand.
We watch the oil price rise, with none of the consumer protections afforded to gas customers. If the price per litre drops, as during the June ceasefire, the village WhatsApp group lights up.
Some residents still have a back boiler system: a water tank tucked behind a fireplace that heats and circulates hot water to taps and through radiators. It is possible, if you have access to firewood, to heat your home for nothing. Until recently we supplemented our oil heating with wood we could take from the estate, until that “right” was rescinded by the gamekeeper we fell out with. But this isn’t the first time a villager has had a run-in about collecting wood.
In between rain showers we head out, past the gamekeeper’s old residence, to where the estate woodsman’s cottage once was, on the way to the former Wadsmere Common (now an unfenced field, grazed by pheasants). We step over branches felled by storms Austen and Boelo. It’s mostly ash; the best for burning.
Beside the pile of stones where the cottage stood, a tree creaks like a garden gate swinging open. “Granny” Bulpitt, as she was known, was the last occupant. Her father-in-law was the estate bailiff, and after the common and down were enclosed in 1840, he informed on villagers who persisted in collecting firewood.
To the estate owners, King’s College, Cambridge, “their” wood was lucrative commerce. Plunged into fuel poverty, the villagers took the estate to court and won, their plight taken up by the Times. But in retaliation, the estate evicted five tenant families into a severe January snowstorm, and pulled down their houses.
“Granny” Bulpitt’s associations were not forgotten. When she died in 1903, the college let the house fall to ruin. No one lives on Granny’s Lane now, except her rumoured ghost. Winter fuel is forever a contentious issue.
Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at guardianbookshop.com and get a 15% discount
