One of the must-does for our break this week to Coombe Mill in Cornwall was to visit the beach and cook on a fire. Luckily we had the wonderful Wild Family Fun with us, whose job as an outdoor activity facilitator means she's a bit of an expert at starting a fire with vaseline and cotton wool.

So while I explored the rock pools with The Boy and his cousin, Mr. TBaM and The Boy's aunty set to starting the fire up in order to boil up some hot water using the Kelly Kettle she'd brought with us. A Kelly Kettle is an ingenious system which requires a fire to be lit in the metallic base, and then the 'water-jacket' kettle is placed over the top. It ends up with a fire chamber which creates an upward chimney draft ensuring efficient and rapid boiling even in windy or wet weather. And it was very windy that day! [Read more…]