Fire pit or chimnea

Do any of you have either a firepit or chimnea? If so, I would love to know the following:

1. Are they easy to light?

2. What type of fuel do you use?

3. Are they smokey once lit?

4. Do they give out much heat?

5. Any personal recommations?


Any advise is much appreciated.

Thanks.

We bought a chimnea last year - a cast iron little stove thingy for outside. My idea was that we could use it when sitting outside on chilly evenings to warm us up a bit. We have a big open garden and it does nothing to kick out any warmth. Maybe it would work a treat in a walled in garden or a smaller space. It was kind of a wast of money. You put coal or briquettes in to it. It is not difficult to light if you have firelighters etc. It looks cute, but that is about it. Oh there is also a little grill thing inside it for grilling sausages etc but it is too small to be much good. You can fit about 3 sausages on it at a time.

Friends of ours used to do fire pits for their parties and they give off a good amount of heat but I have no idea how one goes about creating one.

I have a small walled garden and a chimnea. They don't give out much heat but are pretty. I only burn wood in mine. Not much good for keeping warm, but nice to look at if it is warm anyway!