Firemaking Kit

Last winter, our son Luca received the most delightful birthday present. A shiny metal tin containing all you need to get a fire going in any conditions. When I realised what it was, I smiled at my sister-in-law, and she knowingly said "well, I thought it was something you could do together". Too right.

We kept it safe until our first camping trip earlier this month where we could both enjoy it and Luca could make his first true fire.

We planned to use it on our second day when I would have more time to pore over it with him. We opened it together and discovered surprise after surprise. The tin box contained little paper bags full of hardwood twigs, dried holly leaves and dried bark, a bundle of hardwood kindling, a flint, a box of stormproof matches and a veggie peeler (for making tinder shavings). Underneath all this lot was of a packet of marshmallows. Truly heart warming. It was so beautifully considered and packaged you couldn't help but smile.

We decided we would use it to start our afternoon fire for our barbeque supper. During the day we walked the fields around the camp site collecting kindling and fuel from under some of the large trees.

When the time came to light the fire, we used our own tinder and kindling to preserve the beautifully packaged bits in the tin. Luca shaved some soft sticks with the peeler to make more tinder and we started to build what would become our fire. We laid some smaller sticks at the bottom of the X-Grill we had bought with us to stop the tinder from falling through the grill (click here for my earlier review of the X-Grill). We then laid some dried grass, shavings and tiny twigs on top and then a few larger twigs to hold it all down.

Now, we were contending with 20mph plus winds and even stronger gusts, so being on the edge of an open field was probably not the best 'survival' location for fire lighting, but hey, we were camping. The wind made the flint starter a bit of a challenge, so we eventually opted for a storm proof match. Did the trick instantly and the wind made sure the fire took off very quickly.

We loaded it up with the wood we collected earlier and this became the fire that would keep us going all afternoon and evening.

Every time I think of this little tin box I feel warmed inside. It's like a box of little gifts. The joy doesn't stop at the first time either like many presents. You just want it to keep being there. I love it.

The lack of marshmallows in my photos is because by the time I had got the camera out we had already toasted them on a fire the night before. Brilliant idea 'though. Ten out of ten for feel good factor.