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The Rothbury Music Festival took place over the weekend of 14th July 2017. We had lovely visitors at East Cottage with their dog Meg and she was star of our show! Thank you to Alison and her family for coming along, and also to everyone else who came to visit Rothbury over that amazing weekend. Meg know enters the Rogues Gallery as the best chicken herder so far! ...

Vistors Welcome over the Summer You are welcome to visit Cragend Farm between 10am - 5pm during the Summer Holidays to see the historic farm built by Lord Armstrong of Cragside for his prize cattle. Shaun and Lou will be happy to show you around and you can see how they are getting on with the renovations to the buildings. ...

Millie and Nellie came to stay with their family at East Cottage Cragend Farm. There was lots of running about on the beach and walks in Cragside. ...

Guide Dogs Visit We have many different dogs visiting us at Cragend Farm, and today is no exception, as these two lovely girls are Guide Dog Mums, breeding the Guide Dogs of the future. Daphne, the Golden Retriever is a retired Mum now, and Evie (Yvonne) is still currently on the breeding programme, with one of her puppies now the Blue Peter dog "Iggy". Felix and Jake are bo ...

We have had cycling guests before who have braved the Northumberland hills to travel the Sandstone Way or just take the local routes from Berwick to Hexham and beyond, but this week we have had a Tandem arrive at Cragend Farm. We are thrilled to have been chosen as one of its ports of call. ...

Welsh Visitors Sid and Ozzy brought their owners all the way from Wales to Northumberland and stayed at East Cottage Crgaend Farm. These boys were very well behaved and loved their walks around the farm and in Cragside. ...

Keeping Mum! This week we had the pleasure of meeting George and Hazel Armstrong. It was a splendid visit as they stayed in The Armstrong Wing which made us all grin! Hazel was celebrating her birthday with family and friends locally and unbeknown to her we had a secret! Her son, Nick, flew over from Dubai for a special visit and stayed with us too, in The West Room, as a  sur ...

Our thanks to Tammy for coming to stay at Cragend Grange B&B again with her lovely owners. She is very much part of our family now and has made herself at home. With a trip to Edinburgh and a visit to beach at Craster and Dunstanburgh she has had a busy few days. ...

Art Club We are very fortunate to have visiting artists interested in drawing and painting both inside and outside at Cragend Farm.  June is  a great month for fine weather and a great chance to sit outside with a pencil and paper. This week we have been visited by the Kirkwhelpington Art Group. Thank you for coming! ...

Swans on The River Coquet We are fortunate to have swans on the river below the farm. They can be seen regularly from Rothbury to Weldon Bridge and it is lovely that they choose to frequent our stretch of the River Coquet at Cragend Farm. If you are staying with us in our Holiday accommodation you are welcome to visit the river to see what wildlife is there. We have also seen ...

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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