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Welcome to the Cragend Farm blog, where we try to keep you up to date with what is going on on the farm, the B&B, self-catering cottage and anything else we get up to.
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There are accommodation, historical and nature entries cataloguing what has happened in the past.
You can dip into a specific area of interest for example, farming, or Accommodation simply click on the title and open up the blog entry.

 

 

Holiday Availability in Northumberland this summer 2026! We have availability throughout the summer in either The Armstrong Wing or The West Room B&B and East Cottgae our holiday self catering property. We are located right next door to Cragside, 2 miles from the scenic town of Rothbury, with Alnwick and Bamburgh Castle within 20 miles.  Being in Central northumberlan ...

Farmhouse Chic in the heart of Northumberland We have availability in July.  Bed & Breakfast Rothbury Northumberland, The Armstrong Wing Accommodation 2 night minimum stay Book Now Button.  Uncover possibility. Late availability check-in. Two Adults +/or Two children +/or travel cot. Families and Dogs welcome.  Self Catering East Cottage in Rothbury Northumberland sle ...

Substack is the new home of our blog and it can be found here. It will have most of the historic items plus news ones. After 15 years we haev decided to use a digital platform that will be easy to resource for our archive on restoration on the farm. We hope you join us an subscribe.  https://substack.com/profile/159626638-cragend-farm/note/c-288128030?utm_source=substac ...

British Council for Archaeology Festival  21st July 2026 We are having a dig day! We aim to look deeper into the Pre-historic Celtic Camp and the industrial heritage  on this event. Limited Tickets £15 can be purchased in advance here Cragend Farm is an award winning site – winner of the The Custodian Prize 2023 and runner up in the Historic Houses Collections Award 202 ...

If you visit us you are welcome to visit our blues spaces.  We are fortunate to be on The River Coquet and have access for guests, to walk or paddle or even wild swim. We also border The Blackburn and have a small bridge that crosses it. There is also a wild life pond full of newts, frogs, toads, eels, and watercress not to mention the swans, geese and othern visiting bir ...

East Cottage is a Cragside farm workers cottage built by Cragside Estate owner Lord Armstrong of Cragside to house his herdsman and his horseman from the 1880's. By 1898 it was on the local OS map. You can book direct or contact us to book a visit. Friday check in Friday to Friday week bookings. ...

We have joined forces with the Jeremy Clarkson app Only Farmers  set up via Clarkson's Farm, Amazon show, to highlight our farm and everything we do in and around it, such as holiday accommodation, heritage tours and tree trails.  You can book direct and join us for a B&B stay, and a look around the farm, a self catering short break, and a walk to see our animals, or a he ...

Pedigree Whitebred Shorthorn Cattle for SALE We have 4 bulls of varying ages available NOW for collection to be collected as soon as payment is made and arrangements made. Blue grey breeders, Stock bulls or Yearling bulls.  Rare Breed Cattle for sale born on site.  We have a selection of bulls for sale at differing ages. We can send photos and other passport details if ...

Cragside and Lord William Armstrong  Magician of the North    There have been many books written about Lord Armstrong over the years: Henrietta Heald 'William Armstrong Magician of the North' ISBN 978-1-9047944-9-3 2010 Page 130 "Tumbleton Lake was formed by damming Debdon Burn lower down, creating a head of water to serve the pump house of 1866, where pumps driven by a ...

Cragside National Trust  Cragside visitor guide 1992 reads as follows:  "ESTATE FARMS: At Cragend Farm a stone walled silo was constructed for silage making. It consists of a central tower between two cement-rendered tanks with a corrugated wrought iron roof. A hydraulic jigger in the tower was used to raise and lower circular 1 ton weights which compressed the silage in th ...

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