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Now the snow has finally melted we have been able to start preparing the garden for the spring planting. The last of the cabbages stand victorious after all the cold weather. Rotovating will help the plants grow and last nights frost will kill some of the bugs that like living in the soil. Plans afoot for some delicious veg in the summer. ...

Enjoy a relaxing stay at Cragend Farm at East Cottage (self catering accommodation) or in one of our Bed and Breakfast rooms in Cragend Grange. Book DIRECT or call us for further information. Short Breaks and longer stays available. Other websites may charge commission to sell you the same dates so book DIRECT! ...

From the 16th century Cragend Farm has been a place of agriculture with approximately 1700 acres at one point. In the 1860's Lord Armstrong of Cragside bought the farm from the Duke of Northumberland and rearranged the layout of the farm for his own use. Most of the land was taken by the main estate and the buildings were altered to house his new inventions of hyro-engineering ...

We have had a few days of snow this winter so far. The animals are managing to find food and stay safe. We are warm thanks to our log burners and there are some fantastic hills for sledging on. With sledging history in the Renwick family we like to take full advantage and go out and have fun in the snow if we can.  We wish the Team GB competitors in the Winter Olympics 2018 al ...

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us and takes such a great interest in everything we are doing here at Cragend Farm. ...

We collect our eggs from our happy hens every day and they can be purchased from Cragend Farm for £1 for a half dozen box at busy laying times and £1.50 per box at not such busy laying times. Well done my Hinnies! ...

Shaun said "I think the river looks right" and so he went down to fish at about 6pm and came back with a beautiful Sea Trout weighing about 3lb. Not just a fisherman's tale, but a true Coquet catch! ...

Vistors Welcome over the Summer You are welcome to visit Cragend Farm between 10am - 5pm during the Summer Holidays to see the historic farm built by Lord Armstrong of Cragside for his prize cattle. Shaun and Lou will be happy to show you around and you can see how they are getting on with the renovations to the buildings. ...

The Elder trees are in full bloom and the sunshine has brought out the glorious scent of the elderflowers. We are collecting the head to make elderflower cordial and have a go at making Elderflower champagne. One is easy the other is not so easy but we will see how it goes! ...

We are thrilled to be starting a herd of rare breed cattle.  They arrived in early June. This pedigree breed, the Whitebred Shorthorn, originally a local breed, is often used to cross with Highland or Galloway Cattle to  breed a successful beef cow. We hope to keep this herd pure bred with the intention of having a "Cragend" herd.   http://www.whitebredshorthorn.com/history/i ...

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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