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Welcome to the Cragend Farm blog, where we try to keep you up to date with what is going on on the farm, the B&B, self-catering cottage and anything else we get up to.
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There are accommodation, historical and nature entries cataloguing what has happened in the past.
You can dip into a specific area of interest for example, farming, or Accommodation simply click on the title and open up the blog entry.

 

 

Ramblers are voting now to decide the best walk in the United Kingdom. Why not place your vote? Our Simonside Hills are the best for walking and scenery! The walking in Northumberland and our Coquet Valley is a great thing to do on your holidays when you stay with us.  Simonside Ridge Walk   https://g.co/kgs/GR7zsWB ...

Cyclists Welcome  AA Accredited and Quality Assessed our self-catering cottage is a great place to bring your bikes (motor or push bike) and get cycling in Northumberland and its National Park, Cheviot and Simonside Hills, or the coast. See you soon. Book Now! ...

Families Welcome  AA Accredited and Quality Assessed our self-catering cottage is a great place to bring your family and get walking in Northumberland and its National Park, Cheviot and Simonside Hills, or the coast. Kids love the farm and they can help us feed the animals if they want to. See you soon. Book Now! ...

Walkers Welcome  AA Accredited and Quality Assessed our self-catering cottage is a great place to bring your boots and get walking in Northumberland and its National Park, Cheviot and Simonside Hills, or the coast. See you soon. Book Now! ...

Pets Welcome  AA Accredited and Quality Assessed our self-catering cottage is a great place to bring your lovely dogs to stay. We have had a cat or two too. See you soon. Book Now! ...

Things to do in Rothbury Northumberland: Invitation to View Historic Houses: Cragend Farm.  A great review about our Historic Site: Paul and I had a fascinating time at Cragend Farm on Wednesday 11 June. We joined a small group in Lou’s farmhouse kitchen, where she explained, over tea and biscuits, the geographical and historical context of the farm with the aid of old maps a ...

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION Close to country and coast there is B&B and self catering options for families and their dogs.   Places to visit are aplenty, with over 70 castles, beach trips and historic hill forts.   Surf board hire, bike storage and dog friendly. ...

We love it when we have reviews that tell others what our tours are like and this one from The Wirral  just perfect! "We really enjoyed the tour at Cragend. The farm and history were fascinating, made all the better by your enthusiasm and knowledge.  We looked at Cragside itself with a different perspective after our visit to you!" Our thanks to these lovely visitors and ...

National Walking Month  at Historic Houses May is National Walking Month in the UK for Historic Houses and we love a good walk here at Cragend Farm. Its a campaign to encourage people across all ages and backgrounds to get outside and embrace the simple yet profound health benefits of walking. Come and visit us either as a tour visitor or for a longer stay as a B&B or ...

Rhododendron time in Coquetdale! Cragside looks spectacular at this time of year and we also have great rhodi's thanks to Lord Armstrong planting them everywhere in our woods and farm. Well worth a visit to see this amazing attraction and stay with us in Lord Armstrongs Model Farm.  #rhododendron #plants #gardening #chelseaflowershow  #cragside ...

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to your fantastic farm on the Historic Houses tour on Tuesday. We both agree that it was the most interesting HHA visit we have ever done - and we have done many over the years! We had no idea of the extent of the Armstrong connection or what you have there, having visited Cragside on so many occasions in the past 50 years or so. And indeed looked down on the farm from the walks at Cragend quite recently. We particularly enjoyed ascending and descending the ladders to look at the hydraulic equipment and get an idea of how it all functioned, the beautiful and unusual buildings which had housed the cattle, and were intrigued by the contents of your "underground " loo! Peacocks and chicks, hens and a beautiful pet lamb added to the feel of the farm.

Shaun & Lou Renwick are keen to harness the farm's natural resources, using wood to heat their water, to cook with on a wood burning range, and to heat the houses on the Farm. Even if your house is not equipped to totally run on wood there are things you can do to make sure you are using the best quality wood for your fires.

Why use Seasoned Wood?

Seasoned wood is a definition for 'wood drying'. About 5% of the energy of the log is wasted through evaporation and heating the water vapour of damp logs.

Moisture effects the burning process with unburnt hydrocarbons going up the chimney, which can in time create 'sooting' in the chimney, with the possibility of a chimney fire, all of which requires specialist sweeping.

Drying the wood before burning reduces moisture content in the wood before it is used for burning,

Air drying is the most traditional method, and it takes time. usually over and above 2 years! The fire will use less energy to burn the log if the water content is below 20%. Therefore is can give OUT more energy in the form of heat!

Cragend Farm endeavours to provide their customers with the best seasoned wood possible.

if you would like further information on the process of burning wood please contact us and we will be happy to help.

Why seasoned wood?

Thank you so much Lou and Shaun for a great holiday break on your farm at Cragend last week. East Cottage was a super place to stay. Very comfortable accommodation with everything we needed for self-catering and situated next to the beautiful Cragside National Trust gardens. It was super for our dog with fields to walk across as well as a secure fenced place for her to run off lead! Such interesting history too about the farm and how you have restored the buildings, the Victorian silo and so much else of the past farming life at Cragend. We look forward to returning! J&M Nottingham.

Award Winning Accommodation