In order to study the thermal environment of residences and the thermal comfort sensation of the elderly in the rural area of western Hunan in winter，tests and questionnaire surveys were performed in 50 local residences among the elderly who are over 65 years old in January 2018. The results show that temperature in this area in winter is low：the average temperature in living rooms，bedrooms and bathrooms are 8.3 ℃, 8.5 ℃ and 7.1 ℃, respectively，and indoor temperature of stilted building, wooden structure house and brick building rises successively. The average temperature in morning and evening are 7.5 ℃ and 8.5 ℃ respectively，corresponding with 70% and 40% of the subjects having cold feelings when they are indoors，and the proportion of the subjects who feel cold in the bathroom is the highest. Residents' adaptive behaviours in winter include adding clothes and using warm barrels, and the average thermal resistance of winter clothing for the elderly is 1.60 clo. As area heating devices，warm bareels can not improve the overall indoor temperature significantly, but they can greatly improve the thermal comfort sensation of the elderly. Using the Adaptive Predicted Mean Vote（APMV） Model, the adaptive coefficient of the elderly in this area in winter is calculated to be -0.26, and the comfort temperature range is 16.7~27.1 ℃.