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This is the critical moment when we get our cows ready for the artificial insemination programme that will hopefully give us 3 more rare breed whitebred shorthorn cattle. Our Breeding programme is in its 2nd year and we are hoping that our beautiful girls will be pregnant and calf in May 2020. ...

Family Accommodation During the holiday's we are happy to have families of 4 in The Armstrong Wing. It is a large room with ensuite bath ands shower, and we can make sure you are all together rather than being split into two rooms, as in most hotels.  Family breakfast with lots of fruit in season and cereals, and full English for those wanting a great start to their day! C ...

This is Mr Tibbs (Tibby for short) a Pomeranian who came with his owners to stay at Cragend Grange at the weekend. He is blind but that doesn't stop him finding the best spot under the table for breakfast and for being very well behaved. ...

Tree Dedication: The Storer family have lived in the Coquet Valley for over 300 years, and to celebrate this Rob and Helen Storer decided to dedicate a tree to the family past and present as part of our Scots Pine Stand at Cragend Farm. The trees are positioned on a high point on Cragend Farm. The tree furthest east has been dedicated to William Storer and all his forebears. ...

Cress Sign: Made by our children  Welcome to Cragend Farm: Accommodation for families and couples, visitors with dogs and everyone interested in heritage and farming. ...

Interesting finds as we clear more of the Silo Tower: These items were found lodged behind the listed Gilkes machine and covered in pigeon poo! Once cleaned up we can see it is a very larger spanner and hook. ...

This is John our very brilliant joiner for the Silo repair work. He has been very helpful in thinking through what has been required for us to get the woodwork right for this historic listed building. He is looking particularly pleased with himself! The joys of working in a 4m x 4m tower. in this photograph, as he stands  on the scaffolding, in between the joist he is try ...

Every summer we have to shear the sheep and this year Shaun was there with his shears again to clip the sheep.  This year we have some video of the action, and although not winning any prizes for speed or fleece, Shaun is very careful and gentle with the sheep in order not to stress them. There is also a cameo appearance by Dax our new sheep dog. ...

Artefacts found: The clearing out of the Silo continues as the repair work starts in earnest. These items were amongst many found whilst clearing out the window on the south side. Over the years it had been stuffed with barbed wire and metal, we thought, as a way to stop the animals (sheep, cows) getting to close to this window, but once we started to clear the larger debris, ...

Dog Friendly Accommodation this summer East Cottage sleeps 4 and has plenty of beautiful views of the surrounding countryside in Northumberland. Dog Friendly self-catering accommodation  with plenty of walks on and  around the f arm. Cragside National Trust property is near by, as is Wallington House, Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle and Belsay Castle. The Armstrong Wing ...

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