This is our latest afghan yurt, or the open fire yurt as we call it, seen here with a smoke flap type wheel cover, to allow for the open fire whilst ensuring the rain does not enter.

It has taken us a few years to research our theories about the double bend yurts of North Afghanistan. The conclusions are not conclusive enough, but it seems the high wheel profile is definitely the way to make  enough draw whilst allowing the wheel to be covered from the storms.

Due to the fact that our yurts are made from canvas, that can never “breath” as much as the felts of Asian yurts, there is still a lack of circulation like the type one gets from tipi linings.

But all in all it was fun sitting by the large fire sides, over the New Year, with the howling storms outside.

We later put our usual star cap cover on, and installed a wood burning stove so not to soot up the rafters and felt, so our open fire yurt is now called something else.

You can see the double curves of the rafters here too.

This is what it looks like now, out by the little stream.