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Things to do in northumberland Cragend Farm Historic Tour takes you from The Big Bang to 21st century following the history of how the farm developed. Lord Armstrong of Cragside used it as a show case for his modern technology for agricultural and industrial machinery and this can be experienced in a sensory visit with pictoral and written evidence for history and engineering ...

As part of Historic Houses we sent some pieces up to London for Dreweatts Pall Mall Exhibition 12-15th June. Sporting life was the theme and we sent an oar from Cambridge and a greyhounds racing cup.  Thank you to Dreweatts and Sackville-West for all their hard word. ...

Become a Sponsor If you are interested in Industrial and Agricultural Engineering you can be a sponsor at Cragend Farm. Conservation is a priority here with the intergrety of the heritage of the farm and its ancient history. We are looking for companies and private sponsors who have an interest in hydro-power  as well as architecture and surveying . Contact Shaun Renwick fo ...

One of the Finest in the World Jonathan Minns, a London-based steam and engineering expert was CEO of the British Engineerium museum based at Hove in the 1970-180’s. He wrote about Cragend Silo: “… i t represents probably one of the finest purpose-built agricultural buildings in the world” and “a brilliant example of his [Lord Armstrong of Cragside] engineering innovations”. ...

As farmers look for cheaper ways to feed their animals as the cost of fodder and energy prices rise, we look to our listed building for inspiration as Lord Armstrong of Cragside had this idea in 1884 building two bays for silage with an industrial tower between them housing the most uptodate hydraulics to lift and press the silage. If you are interested in viewing our facilit ...

On Saturday 6th May 2023 we celebrate the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. We wish them a super day and Look forward to a long reign.  We will be open and hope the guests and visitors will enjoy the day with us. ...

Invitation to View tours started in May and are available to book through our website or through historic Houses. New evidence found at The Tyne & Wear archives is being verified with Historic England about the revised date of 1884 for the building. This can be viewed with other items of research during the tour.  This is a review from our most recent one, with our than ...

Book a stay in our B&B rooms or our self catering cottages. Our Historic Houses Tours 'Invitation to View' start in May from11am. they must be pre-booked either through our contact page or click here. ...

Historic England came to visit the Silo and Farm this week to assess the repair work we have done to date. 2012 New Slate roof 2019 New floors and doors The Building at Risk Officer and HE Architect were  impressed with the work we had done and noted that the building still had some serious architectural repairs to be complete before it was taken off the Buildings at Risk ...

Our 2022 Visitors comments on our historic tours ..  all you need to do is now is choose a date in 2023 to come and see us too. Amazing place! We were fascinated. Enlightening tour. Wonderful to see engineering like this preserved. Really wonderful. Most informative. Fabulous and inspiring! Amazing insight into such an intriguing place. Incredible window to the past. Tremend ...

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.

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