Winter in a Yurt

A lot of people have been asking me what it is like to live in a yurt in winter and especially when the weather is as cold as it is now.  This past week the temperature has been below 0°C during the day, and last night it was -15°C. Yesterday it snowed and everything has been covered with a beautiful white blanket.

 This is our kitchen, the stove is what keeps us warm in winter. It also heats water for a radiator in the 2nd yurt and the water we use for washing.  In the winter it is on all the time, day and night.  When it has been filled up with wood it can burn for up to 8 hours before it starts to cool down. In very cold weather like now I do wake up in the night and fill it up. I do this in order to keep the other yurt where the girls sleep warm enough through the night. We also have a gas cooker for cooking in the summer and we have a solar panel for heating water when the stove is not on.  In this cold weather the stove is keeping us very warm and cosy.  

This is the 2nd yurt, it has a radiator and a bath, and the girls beds, toys and cloths. The bath is in the floor and when we are not using it we place a lid on it to save space. 

Last night we had icicles hanging off the yurt.  They were blocking the door so unfortunately we had to break them to get in side out of the cold. The snow stayed on the yurt all night and has only just melted in the afternoon sun.