Thoughts of Love and Romance from The Black River Retreat, your Ultra Private Romantic Getaway in Tweed, Ontario.

Romantic Flames

From the first moment you set a flame to the rolled up paper, and watch as the kindling begins to catch fire with the first little snaps and pops of the twigs alighting with a warm glow, the enchantment of what is about to be a cherished romantic evening in front of gently burning bonfire has begun.

There is an unparalleled feeling of warmth and romance when you are sitting in front of a bonfire with the darkness of night surrounding you, and the flickering of flames reflecting off a backdrop of trees. We are embraced with such a magical feeling, the flames must bring us back in time to our primal human appreciation for fire, and the comfort that such a life sustaining element of nature gives us.

In your hectic and chaotic life in the second millennium, a gently burning bonfire gives you the opportunity to sit with the one you love, mesmerized by the dancing flames, and hold each others hand while talking of everything and nothing as the warm glow envelops you and surrounds you with a feeling of peace and love.

The memories of cuddling in front of a bonfire surrounded by the beauty of nature is a memory that will stay with you long after your time away at your romantic couples getaway has passed.

A Slow Burn

A bonfire is one of the most romantic activities that you can share with the one you love, but if you don’t start the fire correctly, it can also be the most frustrating.

The key to remember when starting a fire is to start slowly and be patient, allowing the flames to do all the work on their own time instead of trying to force them into a splendour of magnificence before they are ready.

Much like baking a cake, you need to layer the fire correctly in order to achieve the bonfire of your dreams, and remember that a fire begins from the bottom and travels upwards, so you need to fuel it with paper, kindling, and progressively larger logs accordingly. The fire needs to begin at the bottom, with each layer above containing material that holds your combustion and flames longer and longer until you are finally ready to put on your final logs. Each layer burns longer and hotter to allow the next layer to catch fire, finally creating a sustaining bonfire that burns on its’ own allowing you to sit back and relax.

You need to start off with balled up paper shrouded by small dry twigs as your base. When you are preparing the paper, set down your inner layer of paper first and have it balled fairly loosely, with the next paper balls on top scrunched and twisted more tightly. The bottom paper will burn quickly, and the flames will allow the tighter balls, which burn longer and hotter, to catch fire. On top of your paper you will arrange small dry twigs so that they can catch fire as your paper burns. A teepee style of twig placement always looks nice, and is a very effective shape to get your fire started.

Always remember that a fire needs to breathe, so ensure that when you are putting on your kindling you allow plenty of airspace to allow the fire to breathe and grow, starting with a loose base of twigs and progressively adding more twigs as the flames begin to catch. If you put on too much wood too quickly without allowing it to fully become engulfed in flames it will be difficult to get your fire going, and you will have to start over again as the fire becomes smothered from lack of oxygen and combustion.

When your initial teepee of twigs has caught fire and is burning nicely, slowly place more and progressively larger twigs on the fire allowing them to ignite as well. After you have your initial frame work of flames burning brightly and steadily, you can then add one of your final burning logs. allow it to catch fire and become engulfed and burning fully before you add a second log.

You now have your fire started and are ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy your romantic evening basking in the glow of gently flickering flames from your perfectly burning bonfire.

The Bigger the Better?…No

There is an art to romance, and the hardest thing to remember in your busy and hectic life is that romance means slowing down and enjoying relaxation and love with your partner. Romance is not about doing one activity and then another and then another and then another, and thinking of how many romantic things you did in an evening. Romance is relaxing and enjoying the moment, doing something special, and sharing that special moment with the one you love. Romance is about slowing the world down for a snapshot in time and wallowing in the love of the most special person in your world.

A romantic bonfire by nature is a small, relaxed, gently burning fire where the slow flickering flames dictate the slow romantic pace of your tranquil evening. Science dictates to us that if we want to have an unrushed, truly memorable evening in front of a fire, we need to keep the fire small as opposed to a veritable inferno. Wood is fuel, and if you get a fire burning brightly and throw armload after armload of wood on the fire, it will burn brightly and hot, but it will also burn fast…very fast. Once the coals are established at the base of your fire, if you put six logs on the fire all at once they will burn far faster than if you were to have one log burning steadily before adding a second log and sitting back to enjoy.

If you stock a burning fire too fully, it will suck up more oxygen and burn hotter and faster using more and more wood, and instead of a romantic fire snuggling with your partner, you will be constantly getting up to put more wood on the fire….and more wood on the fire….and more wood on the fire. Your evening has now lost the relaxation and romance that a quiet bonfire could have provided you.

All of a sudden, your bonfire no longer has the magical escape of romance and relaxation, but has become an activity of perpetual motion as you are constantly refilling the fire bowl with more wood, jumping up and down from your chair, as your fire burns at a frantic pace.

Instead of seeking enormous flames, after your fire is burning brightly put on two logs, sit back with the one you love, and enjoy a truly romantic moment, a truly romantic bonfire holding hands, talking, and kissing as your romantic bonfire crackles and pops surrounding you with the gentle flickering of flames.

The Beauty of Firelight

At the Black River Retreat in Tweed, Ontario, we believe that you should experience the beauty of a bonfire during your romantic couples getaway, so we created two very special bonfire pit locations at our private couples resort.

We have a bonfire pit for your pleasure on the beach at the river front adjacent to your screened in beach cabana, and a second bonfire pit within view of your cedar hot tub and love lock garden. Both bonfire pits give you a beautifully secluded location to enjoy the flickering of firelight and the intoxicating smell of wood smoke as you share special memories with the one you love.

Enjoying a romantic bonfire is both peaceful and memorizing, and if you remember to be patient as you start your fire and maintain just the right amount of wood on your perfectly burning fire, you will have a therapeutic and relaxing evening talking, laughing, and holding hands with that special person in your life that you love so much.

You are creating your very own tale around the the crackling pops and dancing flames of your bonfire, a tale of love, your very special FairyTale.