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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 ...

This is Poppy. She came to stay at East Cottage on Cragend Farm with her family from Scotland in June and her owners were kind enough to send us a note of thanks with some additional information about where they live (between Edinburgh and St Andrews) if we go and visit there. The note read: "Just a "wee" Thank You" for your hospitality ... in your lovely cottage." We hope ...

The Elder trees are in full bloom and the sunshine has brought out the glorious scent of the elderflowers. We are collecting the head to make elderflower cordial and have a go at making Elderflower champagne. One is easy the other is not so easy but we will see how it goes! ...

We are thrilled to be starting a herd of rare breed cattle.  They arrived in early June. This pedigree breed, the Whitebred Shorthorn, originally a local breed, is often used to cross with Highland or Galloway Cattle to  breed a successful beef cow. We hope to keep this herd pure bred with the intention of having a "Cragend" herd.   http://www.whitebredshorthorn.com/history/i ...

We are very pleased to announce that we have been certified by Northumberland County Council as a Produced in Northumberland official Bed & Breakfast supplier. This means we endeavour to supply our guests with produce made in Northumberland in season, which includes sausages from local butchers, honey, eggs and jam. We also have our own fruit in season and the breakfast is ...

OPEN DAY - Wednesday 14th June 2017 Visitors were encouraged to take a look around the farm and learn about the innovative engineering that Lord Armstrong of Cragside designed and built at Cragend Farm. It was a huge success raising funds for The Great North Air Ambulance and Rothbury Christmas Lights. Shaun & Lou Renwick would like to thank everyone who came along, and ...

Extreme Camping Experience Camp in the beautiful Coquet Valley. Bell Tent with ground sheet available to rent with camp fire with BBQ. Bring your own sleeping and food equipment. Sleep 1-10 people. Prices from £250 per night. [email protected] ...

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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