A handy guide for would-be polar bears:
Defo not me though
Yes I used to have four cats and a dog get on top of my duvet especially in winter, they actually pinned me down so I couldn’t get up without disturbing them and the heat they gave off made me change from thermal jammies to just a big teeshirt with short sleeves. The downside of all that free heat was the weekly change of duvet cover and fortnightly change of under-duvet cover which was an old cover a bit thin in places to protect the main item.
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All that is excellent advice, of the last list of 3 essentials to do, I obey 2 of them. Short time in the water and dried off and dressed with a warm drink. Not possible to swim in a group, alone at home, though.
When I first dug my pond, 20 odd years ago, it was finally finished and filled in November and there was no way I was going to wait till Spring to try it out. So in I went. No diving or jumping, the sides are too irregular and rocky, protected only by the liner for that so I climbed in and did 2 rapid lengths each of 7 metres before coming out. I prepared carefully, cleared all obstacles between it and the back door. a free passage through the house, and the shower open and ready for a quick entry.
Not needed, I felt so warm and good that I just strolled back. But that experience has been taken to heart and now I comfortably swim in temperatures as low as 1C. In, and out, rapidly is the secret and drying, dressing and hot coffee immediately afterwards. The feeling is out of this world. 
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The vodka is usually sold at something like -20c, might have something to do with it too🥶
Didn’t they start drinking anti-freeze as well?
If I remember correctly, the warm feeling was less an illusion than the effect of blood vessels opening more widely in the skin (where the nerve endings sensing warmth/cold are plentiful) creating a feeling of warmth. The effect of this was to draw heat from the body’s core to the surface, where it quickly became lost …
But back to the topic. 18degC from 6h30 to 9h00; 15decC from 9h00 to 17h00; 19degC from 17h00 to 23h00; 11degC overnight.
I can remember frost on the interior of (single-glazed) windows, though.
We have several polyester blankets which we agonize over using (because washing releases fibres into the ecosystem) but which are lovely and warm.
As Angela says we cannot afford central heating in Normandy 
We have individual electric convectors in each room with a 1-6 setting.
We keep the two in the living room and dining room on 3 in winter, which takes the chill off.
Mainly rely on the woodburners as principle heat source.
The house is well insulated so this works quite well.
Andy
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