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Mugs for Christmas This year we are introducing our mugs as gifts for Christmas. Our mugs reflect the environment of Cragend Farm, our Rare Breed cattle, our Listed Building and our Victorian heritage. If you would like to order a mug as a gift for someone please contact us before 8th December 2018. We will hope to get the mugs to you before Christmas with that cut off dat ...

Cragend Grange offers a unique experience to stay in an extraordinary building full of history, vintage furniture and surrounded by tranquil countryside. The meaning of 'luxury' as found in The Collins English Dictionary is 'as v ery great comfort, especially among beautiful and expensive surroundings'.  Some may think a  luxury  is something expensive which is not necessary ...

This is a Fritillary Small Copper butterfly. We found a small colony of them in the top field near the I-Spy rock. The Small Copper is usually seen in ones and twos, but in some years large numbers may be found at good sites. Males are territorial, often choosing a piece of bare ground or a stone on which to bask and await passing females. They behave aggressively towards any ...

At Cragend Farm, we hope to offer all our visitors the chance to experience a life from another time, with peace and tranquility, countryside and exploration, as written about in  The Famous Five books, a series of children's adventure novels written by English author Enid Blyton. The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina ( ...

OTTO 2001 - 2018 Our beloved and very best Parsons Jack Russell dog died last Saturday 13th October 2018 after a week of not being very well. He was nearly 18 years old and had a marvellous life, living with us at Farnham, Alnham and Cragend. He sired 4 litters of puppies and was a 'Rat Pack' Terrier with Champion parentage. He has given us so much pleasure over the years ...

Storm Ali brought several trees down on the farm. We have spent a great deal of time and effort clearing the wood, for use in our log burners, and have made this 2 seater seat near the River Coquet out of the trunk that snapped. ...

Experience a relaxing visit to Cragend Grange and stay in "The Armstrong Wing' a spacious bedroom with ensuite bath and shower facilities. Cragend Grange was sympathetically remodelled with a Country House feel, having antiques and fine furniture amongst more modern and contemporary furniture. Guests are welcome to walk, run and cycle in and around the farm, with more than ...

This is Toby the Parsons Jack Russell who came to stay with us from Devon. In the 2018 contest for Best Dog it is a close call but we think Toby may have the prize!...or is it the husky or the ridgeback or the collie????? So many gorgeous visiting dogs to choose from. ...

In September we hosted Heritage Open Days for people to come and visit the farm and see its heritage, its links to Cragside and to have a private visit to The Silo which is Grade II* and a Building at Risk. The visits comprised of a two hour tour of the farm and lots of information about the history of its many owners over the years, with exclusive access to the two turbines ...

In August we had the fields cut for hay. While we were doing this we decided to plant a new tree as part of our planting scheme. Thank you to Oscar Aspey (my godson) for his digging efforts as we now have a young oak tree in the newly fenced 'Oak Tree Field'. We hope that in years to come this tree will prosper and grow giving our landscape an ongoing tree line. If anyone is ...

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