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This weekend has been very eventful, not only because it was our son's 10th Birthday but also because we bought some new sheep for the farm. The park type Caithness Cheviot ewes will be a welcome sight and a great addition to our stock. They are  called: Valentine, Europe, Barbara, Minty and Rosemary. Our thanks to the Lockerbie mart Harrison & Hetherington and to the Nort ...

There are Deer in the Coquet Valley and we are lucky enough to have sightings of them quite regularly at Cragend Farm. There are wildlife cameras in the woods for squirrel sighting purposes and sometimes they capture the deer too. If you are staying here and like getting up early for a walk you may be luckily and see the deer grazing on the Enclosure Field above the farm, l ...

Dogs are welcome at Cragend Farm, whether you stay at East Cottage or are visiting our B&B rooms. We have three dogs and so we are very used to having dogs in the house. There are lots of lovely walks, around our wildlife pond, or down by the River Coquet for anyone staying with us, so we encourage you to bring your dogs with you and let them enjoy your holiday too! The Rog ...

The Silo was designed and built by Lord Armstrong of Cragside to make silage for his Prize Shorthorn Beef Cattle that were housed here at Cragend Farm. It is a Grade II* listed building of National Importance because it gives historians an insight into the Agricultural Industrial Revolution that occurred in Victorian England. Silage was a new commodity in the 1880's but was tho ...

Red Squirrels at Cragend. The Coquetdale Squirrel Group works relentlessly to try to safeguard the red squirrels in our region from the oncoming plague of grey squirrels coming up from the South of England. Here is a testimonial from the groups spokesperson, Janet Fenwick-Clennell: "For the past 5 years the Coquetdale Squirrel Group has been working with Shaun and Lou at C ...

Dogs are welcome at Cragend Farm, whether you stay at East Cottage or are visiting our B&B rooms. We have three dogs and so we are very used to having dogs in the house. There are lots of lovely walks, around our wildlife pond, or down by the River Coquet for anyone staying with us, so we encourage you to bring your dogs with you and let them enjoy your holiday too! The Rog ...

We have a colony of wild bees at Cragend Farm, which seem very at home here. We also have a Hive which will hopefully supply us with beautiful honey for the breakfast table in the year to come. ...

During the renovation of the barns into a house (domestic dwelling) the writings on the walls of the building were catalogued and photographed by a group of Archaeologists headed up by Dr Gillian Scott, who were able to list in chronological order dating from 1880's the writings on the lime washed walls, mainly in the Granary upstairs. We decided to leave the writings and drawi ...

We are working closely with The Red Squirrel team of Coquetdale to assist with trying to stop the rapid rise of the Grey Squirrel and to protect the Red Squirrels in our woodland on the north side of the River Coquet, and for all of Northumberland. We have applied for and continue to receive a grant which helps trap and monitor the squirrel population. If you would like to do ...

The Weighbridge was designed to take a two wheeled cart drawn by a horse to carry sacks of farm produce, weighed in and out to go to market. We have taken over 5 years to carefully renovate the building, the workings and its surroundings. ...

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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