Fonseca we love you

It took us quite some time to find the right replacement for the battered and past-recovery wood-burning range my grandfather had commissioned in the early fifties from Franco. Franco Ironworks, near Viana do Castelo, strong on their deserved reputation, have supplied most range cookers still to be seen in manor houses dotting the Lima valley. So it was fate that showed me this used cooker from the Barcelos maker Fonseca, advertised for sale online; my heart went immediately to it. Not only was it just the right size for our kitchen, and using both wood and gas (something we really wanted), but its dainty vintage look (it dates from the early seventies) was exactly what I was looking for. When we went to collect it, we found a much abused old brick and iron cooker, so it took a lot of rebuilding, repairing and overhauling to put it into working order again, a task that was magnificently executed by Lucínio Pires, a local maker from Meixedo. I cannot praise more the diligence and quality of their work, or their patient answers to my permanent questions, as I hovered around their works, watching progress with the eyes of a jealous lover… And love’s labour it has been indeed, and amply rewarded, as the warm embrace of our Fonseca makes the kitchen the cosiest place in the house, in the present cold winter nights, burning at a very reasonable rate of a small log per hour…. Fonseca, we love you!