'Mad experience' – meet the Shropshire blacksmith on working in the current heatwave

The Shropshire blacksmith says he's getting through three sets of clothes at present as he works in the current searing temperatures.

Normally, he can escape the belting heat of the forge and cool down but with temperatures outside reaching 40 degrees, that's not the case at present.

Jack, who runs a business in Harmer Hill and is also a resident Blacksmith at Blists Hill Victorian Town, said: "It's a mad experience to be in at present – quite euphoric in a sense because it's hot all the time.

"Usually when I am in the forge, I have the ability to walk away from the heat but on days like these, there's none of that.

"It feels like I'm on another planet, everything muggy and sticky! I'm taking two or three changes of clothes because you just get drenched through.

"I'm drinking loads of fluids. You just have to make sure you monitor the temperature and make sure you are not pushing yourself too far and not overworking it."

"But, at the end of the day, it's part of the job. I need to make money so I can't just stop because I'm too hot. You just have to get on with it.

"With the weather we have been getting, it's certainly hotter than what I thought it would be when I signed on the dotted line to be a Blacksmith!"

Jack joked that the one advantage is that working in the intense heat is allowing him to lose weight ahead of his wedding next year.

"It's an easy way to lose weight for my wedding in May next year. Days like today, the weight drops off quite quickly!" he said. "My partner Hayley has even texted me to say her office is quite nice at the moment with the air-conditioning on.

"It's two extremes, one of us is in an office and the other in a forge in the belting heat. I just have to suck it up and get on with things."