Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

2019 has been an amazing year at Cragend Farm.

Our holiday accommodation business is up and running and we now have a flock of Cheviot sheep and a small herd of Rare Breed Whitebred Shorthorn cattle to look after as well as our chickens, peacocks and dogs.

Our new arrival, Dax, a Border Collie dog, is now 1 year old, and training to be our trusty sheep dog.

We have also had grant funding from The Historic Houses Foundation to help us restore part of The Cragend Silo tower stairs and floors; also, from The Catherine Cookson Trust for additional help to promote our historic Victorian site.

A highlight has been the new calves born in the summer, a bull and a heifer, and we are thrilled with their progress. The breed is still on the endangered list and so our efforts, alongside our trusty vets are very worth while.

Our environment project to build a stand of Scots Pine trees in our highest field has also been a massive success, with local coverage in The Northumberland Gazette, listing the kind donors of tree guards to make sure these trees grown big and strong for future generations.

The weather has been mixed, with spring and early summer being incredibly hot, and so we took advantage of this with swimming in the river, and also plenty of lunching on our lovely terraced courtyard, now full of flowering plants.

July brought rain, lots of it, flooding Rothbury and many areas in Northumberland; and added excitement when our turbine that is joined to Cragside, the National Trust property next door, filling the whole room with water. An emotional experience having gallons of water spurting out into your home, but we managed to plug the leaking machine and thankfully the overflow pipes have been redirected now.

All in all it has been a busy but fruitful year, finished off nicely with a 'Cocktails and Canapes' class in our kitchen with our log burning Esse 990 cooker, hosted by Mary Wilkins which started the Christmas celebrations off with some fizz and festivities.

We would like to thank everyone who has helped us make all this possible this year, all our lovely guests to East Cottage, The Armstrong Wing and The West Room, as well as the tradesmen who have made all the additional work we have been doing possible.

It is our hope to continue the work we are doing in 2020, with several Historic Houses Heritage Open Days in May and June, and also welcoming guests who come to stay in our beautiful county of Northumberland on holiday.

See Facebook, twitter, instagram for updates and check our blog for news on what is going on next year!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2020.