Nothing's nicer than toasting yourself in front of a cosy fire. Using a woodburner to heat your home means you're not captive to energy companies and their ever-rising prices - and you can still be warm if there's a power cut.

Burning wood is carbon-neutral because it's a renewable resource, but burning it cleanly is the key to making it enviro-friendly.

Apart from solar heating, all winter-heating options carry an environmental cost. The Ministry for the Environment estimates that about 30 towns and cities regularly exceed the standard for ultra-fine-particle air pollution.

Smoke particles are measured in microns: one thousand microns equals a millimetre. It's the fine (10 microns or less) particles in smoke that, when inhaled, can lodge in the lungs and cause respiratory diseases.

That's the reason you should burn the right-sized dry wood in a modern efficient woodburner.

Woodburners are really cheap to run if you can scrounge the right firewood and they're still cheap even if you buy it. Of course, there's some extra hassle in sourcing, (possibly) chopping, and storing firewood - and in having to do this many months before winter strikes. You also have to light the fire when you want heat ... and refuel it ... and empty the ashes. But it's you - and not the power company - who's in charge of the heating.