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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. ...

Summer in Northumberland and especially Rothbury is a great time to visit Cragside and the beach. Bed and Breakfast rooms available £140 for a family of 4 and £120 for 2 people including breakfast. ...

Summer Holidays   Bed and Breakfast Rooms available £120 for 2 people and £140 for family of 4 including breakfast per night. Cragend Farm offers a relaxing atmosphere with an interesting environment of farm life and Victorian Engineering. ...

Half-terms Dates: Rooms available for Bed & Breakfast. 10th - 17th February 2017 17th - 26th February 2017 £120 for 2 people and £140 for a family of 4 including breakfast per night. ...

We load the baskets with smaller lengths of seasoned wood for our Esse 990 range which is at the heart of our kitchen, keeping us warm and cooking everything. ...

Christmas at Cragend Farm is very special. The lights on the trees outside and the decorations in the houses make us all feel very festive. ...

In Victorian gardens the Fernery was a place of cool and quiet to contemplate the world and enjoy the cooling shades and shapes of the different species of Ferns that were growing there. We have now planted an area next to the Weighbridge with ferns for this very purpose. It is a north facing wall which already has a great many specimens growing on the wall. We hope the ferns w ...

We load the EcoAngus woodburner with 1m long lengths of seasoned wood and each full "burn" gives us hot water for the underfloor heating and the water for all our showers, baths and washing up! The logs are cut by Shaun and can be a different sizes for different wood burners. ...

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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