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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.
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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.

 

 

Carbon Literacy is defined as “an awareness of the greenhouse gas costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis”.  There is a  Carbon Literacy Project, an independent not-for-profit organisation, setting the standard, and has accredited tens of thousands of learners from thousan ...

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cragside has an amazing light trail this year with the UKs tallest tree, Bamburgh has an amazing festive display within the castle and as always Alnwick Castle gardens has a Christmas event through December. We have been busy with a Green Tourism and a Carbon Literacy accreditation as well as all th ...

Cragend Farm is a great place to stay in Half Term in Northumberland for Halloween pumpkins and spooky visits to Alnwick Castle and Cragside.  Book Now. ...

We are so lucky to have very dark skies here at Cragend Farm in Northumberland. Here all year around but if you stay in the winter months you get the best show of all the great stars, The Milky Way and comets, plus sometimes the Aurora Borealis. Local Dark Skies Photographers have tested our light pollution and recorded a very healthy 3-4  around the farm which is very good f ...

Book a short break or a weeks stay with your kids over half-term and enjoy the Halloween break with plenty to see and do in Northumberland during your stay. Huge room - huge shower - huge adventure! A new Officially licensed Harry Potter merchandise shop  has opened in Alnwick called Bowring Hepple Black  bhbwitchcraftandwizardry.co.uk worth a visit! Press the book now bu ...

Very exciting to see an otter down on The River Coquet the other day. The full video can be seen on our social media: YouTube, Instagram and facebook ...

After the success of our Heritage Open Day in September we are pleased to offer one more Historic tour on 30th October in association with Historic Houses. Stay with us for B&B or self-catering and enjoy all Northumberlands history and countryside has to offer. Breakfast in our beautiful farm with 140 acres of countryside right on your door step. Cragside is right next do ...

As we reach the end of an amazing season of tours our thanks passes to Historic Houses for their continuing support, and we can report that we have had more people visit this year than ever before and that with The Heritage Open Day, Classic Car Club, CPRE, and Association of Industrial Archaeology, we managed to have more group tours visit as well. This is a time to reflect ...

We are thrilled to have been awarded a Green Tourism Award for all the work we do here to be sustainable and ECO. You can read our Sustainability Report online on our Blog. ...

We have teamed up with The Wildlife Trust and joined their Wilder Northumberland project. Cragend Farm is a rare. breed farm with cattle, goats and sheep, and we also very passionate about the wildlife and the nature around us and are regenerating the land to manage carbon and help reduce the ozone layer.  The Wilder Northumberland Network is an exciting, new network for ...

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