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This Gilkes Turbine was invented by Lord Armstrong of Cragside and Henry Watson of Newcastle in the 1880's to power milling, threshing, and grinding machines in the Machine Room at Cragend Farm. It is linked by underground pipes to the Silo on the south-east side of the farm, which powered a Jig that lifted 32 x 1 tonne weights to make silage for the cattle on the farm. It wa ...

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 ...

Bamburgh Castle passed into the hands of the First Lord Armstrong, with the intention of creating a respite home but he died before its restoration was complete. It then became the Armstrong family home. It is still owned by the Armstrong Family who have opened it up to visitors and remains to this day an icon of the North East of England. Cragend Farm was owned by the Armstr ...

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 ...

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 defin ...

The Victorian Fernery has four new arrivals thanks to a great Christmas Present from a family friend. Athyrium niponicum var. pictum Athyrium filix-femina subsp. angustum f. rubellum: Lady in Red Dryopteris filix-mas: Cristata Biechnum brasiliense: Volcano (PBR) They are too sleepy at the moment to show their heads but will be beautiful by the autumn. ...

We are now taking bookings for 2018 at Cragend Grange. 'The Armstrong Wing' and 'The West Room' are B&B ensuite rooms and East Cottage is a self-catering house that sleeps 4 adults near National Trust property 'Cragside' . Dogs are welcome. Call us or send us a n email to book a relaxing visit to Northumberland. Other websites may charge commission to sell you the same dat ...

Happy New Year from Cragend Farm. 2018 is already busy with new plans for further enhancements to the farm and we are looking forward to another beautiful year in Northumberland.  Shaun & Lou Renwick hope you will 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 ca ...

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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