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Whilst walking the dogs this morning i saw five deer quietly grazing in our field that borders The Cragside Estate near Cragend Quarry. ...

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. ...

Thank you to all the guests who voted for us after their stay at East Cottage. We have won an award for Customers Choice 2019 and we hope to see you all again soon at East Cottage @cragend ...

Spring is here at Cragend Farm with daffodils in abundance and lambs being born. ...

This is lovely Barney the apricot Cockerpoo who came to stay with his owners from Hudddersfield this week. He is 8 months old and completely gorgeous! He made himself at home straightaway and became firm friends with our collie puppy. ...

Easter Holidays Book Direct: East Cottage: Self-catering, sleeps 4, Dog Friendly Bed and Breakfast Rooms: The Armstrong Wing and The West Room, both rooms Dog Friendly Tours for guests interested in seeing the Model Farm of Lord Armstrong of Cragside by appointment. ...

Cragend Farm Breeding Programme for Rare Breeds The Whitebred Shorthorn cows are pregnant and have a gestation period of 8 months. We used an A.I. (Artificial Insemination) programme as they are a rare breed. Hopefully we will be calving 3 calves in mid-May 2019. ...

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 ...

Our cows are pregnant and due to give birth in May, and our sheep have already started lambing, with the current total being 2 ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs. ...

Lambing We have a small flock of Park Type Cheviot Sheep and with the help of our 3 rams we are hoping for a successful lambing season this year. Lambing starts in earnest towards the middle of April with the gestation period for sheep being approximately 21 weeks (152 days). ...

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.

Award Winning Accommodation