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Cragend Farm is embarking on a new harvest this year ... Mushrooms. We are trying to growing Shitake and Oyster mushrooms on logs. The sycamore trees in our wood had been marked for harvesting and so we cut a quantity down to use to grow mushrooms. Unlike when burning a log on a fire, you need fresh, wet logs and a dark space to store them in. We drilled holes in the logs a ...

The West Room at Cragend Grange is an historical place, with over a century of graffiti written on the lime washed walls beneath the paint work. The graffiti relates to the farm and to Cragside and the people who lived and worked here. There are over 500 inscriptions and many drawings.  It has been catalogued and photographed and the pictures are here on record, and we have a ...

The Easter holidays are coming shortly with lighter and warmer days. The Armstrong Wing and The West Room are perfect for having a relaxing few days holiday over the Easter break and hopefully our yellow daffodils will start to peek up through the soil. Our hens are laying again and love to give us gorgeous yellow eggs for Easter. Dogs are welcome and there are plenty of wal ...

This is the second year we have entered and won an award voted for, by our guests through Booking.com. Thank you to everyone who reviewed us - it really means so much to us here at Cragend Farm. ...

Snow in March The weather has been bad all over Britain this month and Northumberland had its fair share of snow. At Cragend Farm it is a chance to have some fun, once we have made sure the animals are all fed and watered. We managed to have 5 days of sledging and plenty of snowmen and snowballs. Our biomass log boiler worked well and kept us all toasty warm, and the Esse 990 ...

The garden is starting to come into bloom with snowdrops and aconites. Rotovating has been done with the frost doing a really great job of killing things in the soil this year we hope as its so cold. The peonies are now ready for their tentative emergence in late spring too. 'Felix Crousse' and 'Mothers Choice' are the varieties we have in our main bed. ...

There are plenty of places to choose from to eat in Northumberland if you are planning a visit starting with a tasty breakfast at Cragend Farm. There are Pubs and Restaurants in Rothbury and in nearby villages and towns, here is a list of just a few of them: Rothbury: The Turks Head Newcastle House Hotel The Queens Head Tomlinsons Bunkhouse and Cafe The Coquetvale Hotel ...

These beautiful Husky Dogs came to stay and had a great time in and around the Cragside Simonside and Cheviot area - and alot of walking they need. Added snow and frost on some days, as they love the colder days. Thank you to A&J for bringing them! ...

This notice has appeared at an office in Birmingham and we thought it was such a great idea we wanted to thank them for their support by giving them a mention: "TO ALL STAFF: In the Kitchen at Stechford is a picture if the 8 Sheep of which 6 may be in lamb. Some have scans  stating 2 foetus seen, some 1 and some are just scanned not confirmed.  The competition relates to th ...

New arrivals are imminent with another 8 sheep due to lamb in March and April. This will hopefully increase our stock to a reasonable sized flock. ...

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