Sustainable Log Production

As we start to approach the end of the summer and start thinking about the darker evenings and chillier nights we thought it would be the perfect time to pop out an article looking at the Meadow Grange process for producing local, sustainable, Woodsure accredited fire wood.

Let’s face it there’s nothing more wonderfully ‘autumn’ than a crackling real wood fire, but how do you know that your wood supply both comes from a sustainable source and is al-so processed to deliver the best quality wood fuel?

Our Local Source

So the first thing to say about our logs is that our timber source couldn’t really be any closer to Meadow Grange itself. Our managed woodland is right next door to us and at the top of the hill is our wood processing depot. The woodland, which consists of a variety of different tree species is coppiced by our own team of local wood cutters in a sustainable, well-rotated programme and once cut is moved just a few hundred metres to our processing centre.

Our Kiln Drying Process

Once cut to size at our processing centre, the logs are put into our drying cages and placed into the kiln for a number of days to reduce the moisture content of the wood to below 20%. The kiln has a heating element that blows in warm air through the cages drying out the logs - it’s a little bit like a hairdryer that is continuously drying out the cages of logs.

The drying kilns are powered with waste wood that is burnt to produce the warm air from the heat exchanger and then blown into a container full of logs for drying. We also use our greenhouses as a solar kiln to dry the wood, temperatures can get up to 40 degrees making drying wood very easy.

Logs that have been kiln dried and produced so that they have a moisture content below 20% are rapidly becoming the wood fuel of choice for people that have log burners and open fires. A study by DEFRA in 2018 concluded that the impact of burning wet or damp wood in burners can cause significant issues for the environment and also for people’s health.

Our kiln drying process guarantees that our firewood has a moisture content below 20% and we test this regularly to ensure that we maintain this high standard, providing firewood that burns cleaner and longer, with an increased heat output.

Woodsure Certification

Meadow Grange firewood is now also accredited with the UK’s only wood fuel quality assurance scheme - ‘Woodsure’. In order to achieve this accreditation a wood fuel supplier has to meet testing and audit requirements set by Woodsure to provide assurance that the quality and moisture content of our firewood meets their high standard.

There is plenty of information available on the Woodsure website and if you do use wood fuel on a regular basis then it’s definitely worth taking a look at the scheme and the required standards to ensure you’re buying good quality fire wood.

Delivering Quality Wood Fuel Across Kent.

Our kiln dried firewood is loaded into bulk cubic metre bags to be delivered directly to our customers. The delivery service covers most of East Kent and we can readily supply in bulk for hotels, restaurants or pubs. We’re out and about delivering every day during the autumn/winter months and we can also provide a wood stacking service too.

If you’d like more information on Meadow Grange firewood then there is plenty of information on our website or please do speak to one of the team when you’re next visiting us at Meadow Grange and they will be able to answer your questions.

So what are you waiting for - get yourselves all stocked up before the weather turns and start dreaming of a cosy night in with a glass of wine and the comforting crackle of a real fire.