Now that the nights are drawing in and winter is on its way what could be nicer than the comforting warmth of a log fire to take the chill out of the winter evenings. Burning wood is a sustainable way to heat your home, but you can make it even more environmentally friendly by choosing the right logs for the job.

Softwood or hardwood?

Hardwoods have a greater density of fibres than softwoods, so provide you with more fuel to burn than the same volume of softwood. Deciduous trees, such as oak, tend to be hardwoods, while evergreens, such as pine, tend to be softwoods. Hardwoods burn slower and longer, so the fire doesn't have to be fed as often. Softwoods, if dry, create hotter and more intense flames - this is useful for getting fires started and also if you want to encourage a few cheery flames in a slow burning fire.

Green or seasoned?

Firewood is like a good wine - it improves when stored and matured correctly. Recently cut, or 'green wood' is still full of water, so will burn less efficiently and smoulder. This means the chimney won't be warmed up properly, which can cause a build-up of creosote to form inside the flue. Cutting and splitting wood and keeping it under cover in a well ventilated storage area (known as seasoning) allows moisture in the wood to escape and helps it to dry out as much as possible. Softwoods generally take less time to dry out than hardwoods, but as a general rule two or three years is ideal for hardwoods and a year for softwoods.

Open or closed?

Nothing quite beats the romance of an open log fire, but they are not the most efficient way of using wood as fuel. Woodburning stoves can look just as lovely and use around half as much wood. The fire heats the metal stove and pipe, which act as a radiator, rather than letting most of the heat escape up the chimney.

Which Tree?

Different types of trees burn in different ways, so experiment to find the wood that best suits your requirements.

Ash is considered to be the best firewood as it will even burn without being seasoned. An old rhyme says 'Ash new or ash old, is fit for a queen with a crown of gold'.

Oak makes excellent firewood. Burning slowly and producing plenty of heat but little flame, oak logs will keep a fire going overnight. However, it needs to have been seasoned for at least two years to make good fuel.

Hawthorn also makes a good, hot fire. Branches trimmed from hawthorn hedges make excellent kindling wood for starting the fire or giving it a boost.

Apple or Pear will scent the room with a glorious aroma, and both are also good for cooking over as the smoke flavours the food.

Pine and Larch blast out plenty of heat when well seasoned, but both have a tendency to spit, so are best used in a stove. Pine kindling wood is excellent for starting a fire.

Beech is excellent for both heat and flames, but watch out for the sparks.

Sycamore can grow like a weed in gardens, but its branches make good kindling wood.

Elder will burn when seasoned, but it is said to be unlucky. Gypsies would search through bundles of firewood to make sure there was no elder among it, as it was thought to invite death into the home.