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We travelled to see the Battle of Bosworth during the holidays to find out more about King Richard III and the Tudors, as part of school history lessons.  We found the exhibition very interesting and learnt that they found numerous lead cannon balls or rather its correct term, round shot, when the archaeologists did some metal detection in the fields around the Battle of Bosw ...

Watch this space as our Rare Breed cattle the Whitebred Shorthorns are pregnant and due to give birth in May 2019! Also our Cheviot sheep are hopefully pregnant and we should see some little lambs in May too, as we have delayed the tupping process in the hope fo better weather for lambing that in 2018 . ...

Our new project for 2019 - a stand of Scots Pine trees. It has been in our mind for sometime to plant some Scots pine trees in our top field. It is one of the highest points on the farm at 326 feet. The Scots Pine is a fabulous tree. Latin 'Pinus sylvestris'. Scots pine is an evergreen conifer native to northern Europe, and is one of just three conifers native to the UK. ...

Build It Magaine features Cragend Farm in February 2019 Our thanks to Dave and Heather Dixon for setting up this great editorial in the building magazine Build It. Cragend Farm is featured and amongst others Storey and Edmondson David Humble Windows and MKM Alnwick are mentioned as part of our great team who helped us renovate the buildings. The magazine is available at m ...

Sadly our last Parsons Jack Russell, Jesse, died in her sleep on January 2nd 2019. She had many nicknames, but Piglet and Bear were our favorites. We will miss her very much, but she was an old girl, at just over 16 years old, and had declined rapidly after the death of her mate, Otto, in October 2018. ...

Happy New Year! We would like to wish all our guests past and present a Happy New Year! We are looking forward to a busy year both at East Cottage and our B&B rooms The Armstrong Wing and The West Room. We are currently busy preparing the rooms for a busy 2019! Remember to book direct or call us for the best rates. We have an exciting year ahead of us with our rare ...

Hadrian's Wall Path Walk 84 miles from coast to coast following the World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall, past Roman settlements and forts. There's history every step of the way, and cosy pubs, bustling market towns and great views too. We suggest that if you are keen to walk in Northumberland that Hadirans Wall is just one of many walks and that coming to stay at Cragend Gr ...

Green Award for Sustainability We have been accredited with a  Green Award for Sustainability at East Cottage for doing our part to help the environment and recycle, remain carbon neutral/negative and energy light. We make every effort to make the cottage as comfortable as possible without waste or excess and hope you enjoy your part in saving our planet by staying with us ...

Remembrance Day 11th November 2018 100 Year Anniversary of the end of the First World War. George Thompson went to war in 1940 having been the eldest son at Cragend Farm, who did not need to go because he was a farm worker. However, he felt it was his duty to go, and he sadly died, killed in action. His younger brother James (Jimmy) then took over the farm. There is a mem ...

We have had some cine film translated into a movie file and have it here on our YouTube channel for people to enjoy. The Bowes family rented East Cottage from The Thompsons at Cragend Farm from 1914-1954 and were keen film makers. We have been given permission to show this movie which highlights the farm, the cottage and the river. It is available on twitter, Facebook and ...

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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