Hunter Stoves (Mells) Group was originally founded in 1970 in the South West of England, and is widely thought to be the first UK-based wood stove manufacturer; initially producing steel stoves with built-in boilers to run small and medium sized central heating systems. For 15 years the company grew from strength to strength, but unfortunately in 1986 the company fell into bankruptcy. Ravenheat Ltd, a gas boiler manufacturer in the North of England, subsequently bought the company. Over the next 10 years the brand suffered greatly as Ravenheat Ltd experimented with turning the Hunter Stoves brand into a range of gas stoves and fire products. In 1996, two ex-directors of another stove manufacturer bought the Hunter Stoves brand and re-located the company to the South West of England to a factory near Exeter.
