Showcasing the best of MADE IN BRITAIN woodburners

We didn’t set out to specifically stock British stoves, just the best stoves available for the UK market. So it’s quite a vindication of British engineering that of the 50+ stoves we have on display in the showroom, representing the very best of European design, more than half of them not only originate from British companies but are manufactured in the UK too.

Britain’s stove-building legacy goes back to the early 70’s and enjoyed a shot in the arm from that era’s oil shock, when a desperate Britain looked for a cheaper way to keep warm, remembered that fuel literally grows on trees, realised it still had a few trees (that kings, the navy, landowners and assorted merchants hadn’t yet cut down) and looked for an efficient appliance which would exponentially multiply the efficiency with which you could burn logs.

It turned into an unalloyed success story. Some of those original innovators are still at it, and have in turn inspired others to have a go too.

Located less than 20 miles from our showroom, Charnwood Stoves have been manufacturing for over 50 years from their state-of-the-art facility on the Isle of Wight. Constantly innovating, they are at the cutting edge of stove design and have won numerous awards for export: their stoves are now sold on multiple continents.

Woodwarm stoves are of a similar vintage, having started in 1974, and enjoy an impeccable reputation for consistently building outstanding stoves. Many of the features we now take for granted on modern stoves were first introduced by Woodwarm and they have continually refined their offering right up to the extremely efficient, controllable and robust stove range they manufacture today.

Chilli Penguin is a relative newbie, established (only!) in 2001. Having identified a niche in the market for an all-singing, all dancing stove – heat! Kettle-boiling! Cooking! Low flue-draught requirement! Design-forward! Cute Penguin logo! – they quickly achieved cult status among the cognoscenti before surging into popularity after about a decade of sustained growth. Their quirkiness, creativity and charm remain undiminished, and their stoves, hand-built in Wales, are excellent. Their Stock Cube-family woodburners are among the very best stoves we’ve enjoyed using, and truly world-class.

Clock Woodburners exploded onto the stove scene in 2016 with their spectacular Blithfield 5 multifuel stove. Expertly designed and built by experienced stove-fitters, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Clock became a trade-insiders’ favourite very quickly, and their reputation has only grown as their range has expanded, to encompass models smaller and larger, double-sided and inset, conventional-radiant and convection. Based in Cheshire, all their stoves are built in the north of England: yet another resounding manufacturing triumph.

We’ve recently taken on Clock-adjacent but not formally-related Archer Stoves, a new brand with a similar focus on outperformance: expect to see more of Archer popping up on our social media feeds. And we also have the Symphony Solo, an appropriately named (so far) singleton from MAC Metalcraft, a stalwart of the stove industry, who in turning their hand to manufacturing their own, have created an incredibly responsive and handsome woodburner on their first try- bravo! And perhaps it's no coincidence that Mendip's most popular, and award-winning, stove - the Woodland - is now manufactured entirely in Somerset.

It’s hard to say there is really a cost-premium attached to British-built stoves. In fact, most compare very favourably in price with peer European competitors. There are clearly much cheaper stoves on the market, but if you dig into any of the British-flagged brands offering significantly cheaper stoves, these almost exclusively turn out to be built in China but often with some final aspect of assembly, or a component, or even just design, carried out in the UK.

There are certainly some decent stoves built in China – indeed, we carry an affordable range built there for our more cash-strapped customers - but there are some very bad ones too, and with a high-ticket product that should be designed to last for decades, there are serious questions to be asked about access to spare and replacement parts over the lifetime of the appliance, that become very difficult to answer when supply lines stretch halfway around the world to factories building products to specification according to short-term contract.

In the meantime, there is a positive wealth of native options available if you want a truly excellent, world-class woodburner, designed for life. We feel truly privileged to be able to showcase such a superb selection of the very best British-built stoves and look forward a bright future for the industry.

If you’d like to see the best that Britain’s stove industry has to offer, just pop into our showroom in Hordle.