Spring / summer heating

I can't justify using the gas-fired £100-a-month central heating in April, and there are no logs for the woodburner to be had anywhere.

As a child I remember my parents' house being full of candles in winter, and the surprising amount of heat these generated.

Good quality tealights are £5 for 100 from Waitrose and burn for 4 hours each. 10 or so dotted about the place beautifully light a draughty old barn after dark, and heat it in the process for 50p.

Compared with the cost of running the central heating for 4 hours = £3. A no-brainer.

However, since paraffin wax is a by-product of crude oil, candles aren't particularly 'green' - though every Grand Designs eco-hovel seems to have them in profusion... Tut, tut.

Vegetable wax candles are available, but while they're 10 x the price of the paraffin wax variety, I shan't be buying them. Hence the title of this blog.