Lou is the owner of Cragend Farm with her husband Shaun, and deals with everything from Holiday Accommodation inquiries to egg collection from the chickens; she is the social media and web design finger-tapper.
Cragside National Trust
Cragside visitor guide 1992 reads as follows:
"ESTATE FARMS: At Cragend Farm a stone walled silo was constructed for silage making. It consists of a central tower between two cement-rendered tanks with a corrugated wrought iron roof. A hydraulic jigger in the tower was used to raise and lower circular 1 ton weights which compressed the silage in the tanks. This fine purpose built agricultural building represents one of the earliest examples of silage making which did not become widespread in Britain until the late nineteenth century. " Page 34
"Where Armstrong was involved it was the water which gave Cragside its abiding character...Blackburn Lake round the hill to the east was one of the largest lakes and has a heather thatched boathouse, bearing sold witness to Armstrongs enthusiasm for angling...[and] the reservoir for the short lived experimental hydraulic silo at Cragend Farm." Page 76
1992 ISBN 1-84359-062-X
This article in their guide book may not be totally correct as of May 2026, as we have found out much more about the buildings, including the two turbines No 490 and No 630, plus the hoist is No 1306 and is not a jigger.
Find Out More About Cragend
Cragend Farm has a interesting and diverse history, from technical innovations to historic buildings. Tied in closely to the neighbouring Cragside Estate home of Victorian inventor and industrialist Lord Armstrong.
Wonderful Dog Friendly B&B and self catering cottage, Amazing unique historic site, (featured on TV: Matt Baker’s Travels with Mum & Dad North East)
Original Cragside Architecture and Machinery. Celtic Camp and Ducal Border Reiver settlement, remodelled by Victorian Lord Armstrong of Cragside as his show case for hydraulic machinery.
ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT in ABOUT US.