To me the beauty of natural stone lies within the history that forms it. Each piece of natural stone is unique to another, therefore each stone fireplace is also unique.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock primarily made of the mineral calcite CaCO3 (here comes the science bit) which originates from the floor bed of tropical seas and turns into stone by the accumulation of the constituents grains of calcite and marine sealife.

Most limestone is formed with the help of living organisms, when organisms die their shells and bones settle to the seafloor. Over millions of years, these sediments of shells, sand and mud harden into limestone – your fireplace is made up of fossils and millions of years old!

If you choose to buy a limestone fireplace you do need to be realistic about colour and consistency. The legs and mantel shelf of your Capital Fireplaces’ stone fireplace are colour matched as close as possible and at point of production any legs and mantel shelves with large fossils (i.e 10 pence size or larger) are generally rejected, but tiny fossils will be inevitable – to me that is the beauty of natural stone, and a naturally beautiful limestone fireplace!

Regent Agean Limestone fireplace