I had been toying with the idea of using some form of renewable energy in my home but my knowledge…read morein this field was fairly basic and I could not be certain which technology would suit me best. Fortunately for me I came into contact with Green Solar Wales via their shop in Tongwynlais near Cardiff (it is actually part of and in the excellent woodburning and Fireplace shop) and one of their staff (qualified he assured me) explained the benefits of a solar PV system. He seemed very knowledgeable and they have been installing things on people's roofs for over 20 years I think! I decided to go for a free no obligation survey and more detailed discussion at my house. The presentation was great, well explained and answered all my questions. It seemed such a great idea to use the free energy from the sun to generate clean electricity that I decided to install an 10 panel system. The income from the governments new clean energy cash back scheme also makes solar PV a great investment. I am safe in the knowledge that not only am I helping the environment but that I am also benefitting financially. Green Solar Wales have been very professional throughout and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending them to anyone considering solar panels.

I had a really good experience with Green Solar Wales they asked me to write a letter in if I was…read morehappy with the service. As you can see I was very happy. great company Chris really knows all there is to know about PV and all the government grants and installation procedures warts and all. The installation was flawless and the engineers were very clean tidy and professional. I am now making my own power. The calculations given to me in my estimation pack seem spot on so far but I'll wait for a full year and update you - and I hope to have an 11% return on money that was sitting in the bank earning me 2% net! If you have some spare cash - about £10k burning a hole in your pocket invest in solar and if you live in Wales - I would certainly say Green Solar Wales are worth using. Drop me a line of you want to know more.

Otherwise known as The Fire and Stove Shop. I've been ogiling this shop for many years, wandering…read morearound the showroom in a fantasy kind of way. Wouldn't it be nice to have a wood-burning stove... Until, finally, last autumn I took the plunge, or log or whatever. They sent a man round to look at my sad seventies style gas fire with knackered seventies back boiler. He said that they could take that out and replace it with a wood (and coal) burning stove. He even said that they could connect the aforementioned stove to the central heating system and I wouldn't need gas at all! They did all that, efficiently and with the minimum amount of mess that those sort of things can be done with. And fitted a sleeve up my chimney. And a cowl. The stove is FANTASTIC. But it ate copious amounts of wood in an attempt to feed all the radiators. Now I've put some gas back in and just have the stove to heat the sitting room. Lovely lovely mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

On the outside of the building it says 'This showroom is heated entirely by renewable energy'…read more Sounded tempting, because my house seemed to be heated by more or less nothing. It was cold. Very cold. This was the winter of 2009. I went in to enquire how I could have my house heated entirely by renewable energy. The showroom was warm I must admit. But it was considerably smaller than my house and was mostly occupied by fires. I considered moving in but decided that all fires and no sofas was probably a bad idea. They chatted to me and arranged for an engineer to call round. In the end he said I could have a gas boiler. I wasn't convinced about the renewableness of this. They specialise in heating water with solar panels and ground source heat pumps. My house wasn't compatible with either of those. But the man was nice.

Visited their showroom in Llanishen (I don't think the Pugh's one is around anymore) and was…read moregreatly by friendly staff who knew lots about air source heat pumps and the benefits. I decided to go for a new gas boiler (with Heatforce) however I will be very tempted to go for a heat pump if the price goes down and Welsh Government incentivise it (like England have)!

Q: What's friendly, efficient, honest, clean, comes to your rescue in a crisis and doesn't cost the…read moreearth? A: Gregory Plumbing Services A good plumber is hard to find, but EUREKA here you have found one. Gregory Plumbing Services will do anything from changing a lowly washer to complete bathroom installations. Gregory Plumbing Services specialises is domestic plumbing and offers a good quality, professional plumbing service to the South East Wales area. I have used Gregory Plumbing Services twice, once to have radiators fitted and once to have a lead pipe replaced. On both occasions I was very happy with the work. Having work done on your house can be stressful, but Simon the owner of Gregory Plumbing Services, with his thoughtfulness and cheery disposition, seems to make the process a whole lot easier.

We used Gregory Plumbing Services to have the flush on our loo replaced and the overflow from our…read morebath fixed. We asked Gregory Plumbing Services because they were local and were delighted with the services. Simon Gregory was fantastic. He efficient but also dilligent and very reasonable. We also asked him to look at another job, and he was honest in saying that the job could be costly and offered a cheaper alternative. We were delighted and having a young baby, these things really matter. Charlotte, Taffs Well