The Northumberland & Newcastle Society wrote an exciting review of Cragend Farm as part of our Open Day visit in June 2017. Here is the piece in full and further information about the society can be found at www.nandnsociety.org.uk: Cragend Farm’s Armstrong legacy. From the Carriage Drive at Cragside, you may well have looked down on Cragend Farm just south of the estate ...
Places to Eat
There are plenty of places to choose from to eat in Northumberland if you are planning a visit to stay at Cragend Grange and Cragend Farm. There are Pubs and Restaurants in Rothbury and in nearby villages and towns, here is a list of just a few of them: Rothbury: The Turks Head Newcastle House Hotel The Queens Head Tomlinsons Bunkhouse and Cafe The Coquetvale Hotel The ...
Book Ahead
If you are thinking of booking in advance for a wedding in future months please call or email us to discuss rates and details. We have a self-catering cottage and Bed and Breakfast rooms, all of which are dog friendly near Rothbury, Brinkburn and Longframlington. The Armstrong Wing is a perfect room for relaxing before getting ready to attend the wedding of a friend or loved ...
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 seasoned wood?
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.
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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