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Farming Friends Forever This summer has been eventful with 2 new Whitebred Shorthorn calves born, who are growing up fast and are a great addition to our rare breed herd. The cows have had a fabulous summer of eating lots of grass and basking in the sunshine.  The cows are  hopefully pregnant and we will be taking care of them throughout the coming  Winter.  Our 3 Bagot Bil ...

It was with huge pleasure that we hosted a Heritage Open Day at Cragend Farm in September 2019, as we had new repair and restoration work to reveal in our Grade II* listed building The Cragend Silo, as well as a ‘walk & talk tour’ about how the farm and its machinery are linked to Cragside, a National Trust property in Northumberland. The tour was well attended and we were ...

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 do ...

Minecraft Virtual Tour In 2011 we set about starting to repair the slate roof of the Grade II* listed Silo on Cragend Farm. That work has been completed and the roof is water tight now. We have now received some funding from The Country Houses Foundation to continue that work with some interior repairs to floors and stairs. With this in mind we commissioned Jake, our son, ...

We will be opening our doors for a Heritage Open Day in September 2019. It is by appointment and with limited numbers. Please book your appointment by email or telephone. ...

The Country Houses Foundation: The Cragend Silo has been under the close scrutiny of The Country Houses Foundation for the past year, with a visit from their committee last July where we showed them around the farm, and gave them information on the buildings and machinery. We are thrilled to announce that they have offered us a grant to help us repair the stairs and floors o ...

Watch this space as our Rare Breed cattle the Whitebred Shorthorns are pregnant and due to give birth in May 2019! Also our Cheviot sheep are hopefully pregnant and we should see some little lambs in May too, as we have delayed the tupping process in the hope fo better weather for lambing that in 2018 . ...

Our new project for 2019 - a stand of Scots Pine trees. It has been in our mind for sometime to plant some Scots pine trees in our top field. It is one of the highest points on the farm at 326 feet. The Scots Pine is a fabulous tree. Latin 'Pinus sylvestris'. Scots pine is an evergreen conifer native to northern Europe, and is one of just three conifers native to the UK. ...

Build It Magaine features Cragend Farm in February 2019 Our thanks to Dave and Heather Dixon for setting up this great editorial in the building magazine Build It. Cragend Farm is featured and amongst others Storey and Edmondson David Humble Windows and MKM Alnwick are mentioned as part of our great team who helped us renovate the buildings. The magazine is available at m ...

Hadrian's Wall Path Walk 84 miles from coast to coast following the World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall, past Roman settlements and forts. There's history every step of the way, and cosy pubs, bustling market towns and great views too. We suggest that if you are keen to walk in Northumberland that Hadirans Wall is just one of many walks and that coming to stay at Cragend Gr ...

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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