Over the winter i made a new table for the train carriage using oak boards salvaged from our firewood pile. The plan all along has been to brand a chess board into it. So finally, when our fire was roaring i got the branding iron red hot and started burning the squares on. It was good fun and very smoky… i will do it outside next time! Mossy and Wren looked like they got the hang of chess pretty quickly but i think draughts might be easier to teach. To see the finished table, have a look at the photos on the train carriage page.