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Countryside Stewardship Scheme 2018 We have spent the summer putting in 1600m of fencing as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme using a Wrag Post knocker and some muscle power - thanks to Shaun! Our special thanks goes to Roger Kagan who has been the backbone of this process. This will mean we can do rotational grazing and also give the wildlife at Cragend Farm somew ...

Experience  Cragend Farm is linked to Cragside, The National Trust Property, literally by steel pipes joining the Blackburn reservoir to the farm buildings. When you book a holiday in Northumberland and stay at Cragend Farm, you are able to explore the history of the Armstrong family, who aslo have a castle at Bamburgh. ...

Tilly and Wynn came to stay with their fabulous owners on what has been one of the sunniest weeks so far this year. Simon, Rhys and Linda have been looking at gardens in Northumberland and visiting castles and beaches. There certainly are plenty of those to visit in this amazing county. ...

We go to our wildlife pond nearly every day and see something new. Our boys had a friend to stay and we went for a walk there and saw hundreds on tiny frogs leaping about. The boys were amazed that there were so many. We are pleased that they all survived the cold winter as the spawn had been frozen, and also the heron and visiting geese who think tiny frogs are a tasty treat! ...

Wednesday June 6th 2018 Cragend Farm Open Day: Cragend Farm opened its doors to the public on the 6th June to celebrate the progress of the farm to date. The Grade II* listed Silo was open and tours where held every hour to see the turbines and machinery within it. The gardens and house were also open to visitors to see the buildings and discuss our links with Cragside, the ...

We are always working on projects around the farm, but the major part to be finished so far this year is the Courtyard Terrace and we are thrilled that people will be able to sit out and use it at our Open Day on Wednesday 6th June. It is open to guests in our holiday accommodation. ...

Our boys having fun in the sun! Now big enough to climb anywhere, even the roof of the farmhouse. We are busy making sure our new lambs are growing big and healthy with all the new lush grass in the fields. ...

This lovely whippet is called Nell and she came to stay with her family during half-term. She had a great time racing around our fields with our Labrador Bert. We are happy to welcome dogs to our holiday accommodation and there are lots of fields and walks to go on without taking the car. ...

We were thrilled when our guests turned up in this beautiful kit car and allowed us to take a photograph for the Blog. This is a Ford chassis with hours of work to build the body and engine. There are always interesting vehicles arriving at Cragend Grange with many of our guests loving their cars. The last time there was one of this style however, was over a century ago. (old p ...

You are invited to come and visit our finished courtyard at our Open Day on Wednesday 6th June 2018. The Courtyard Terrace Story: We moved in to the renovated Cragend Grange in August 2014, having dismantled the middle Dairy barn to create a central space, and work started on the internal courtyard in the south. The Armstrong Wing bedroom suite was also completed during 201 ...

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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