Cragend Farm, Northumberland

From the Big Bang to the 21st century: enjoy a sensory historical tour, including artefacts and research, and experience the unique work of businessman and innovative engineer Lord Armstrong of Cragside.

Cragend is an ancient Northumberland farm linked to the National Trust property Cragside House. The farm was re-modelled and transformed to use hydraulic engineering by Northumbrian industrialist Lord William Armstrong of Cragside in the 1880s. It has a unique history thanks to this great innovator's vision for engineering and science including a Grade II* Agricultural Site.

Visit the farm, its buildings, the agricultural hydraulic machinery and engineering skills of 'The Magician of the North', the silo, weighbridge with its Victorian machinery, the Cragend Grange hydraulic turbine 'Pump Room', the courtyard and dairies, and see the farmhouse where there is on-going work stripping back the years to the original stonework.

Following refreshments on arrival, the tour will focus on the following:

• Brief history of Cragend Farm pre-1850
• Why Cragend Farm is historically linked to National Trust property Cragside
• Demonstration of stone work to show how the original 16th-century buildings have been used by Armstrong to recreate the newer buildings.
• View and discussion of cobbled walkways past cow stables, shearing barn, tack room etc.
• Bull Pen and its importance.
• Plans for the future with the restoration of the farm at the forefront.
• Silo visit. Those able to climb steep stairs can view lower and higher levels.
• Weighbridge with Victorian machinery.
• Courtyard and dairies
• Farmhouse (work in progress) 'stripping back' the years to review the original stonework.
• Cragend Grange hydraulic turbine 'Pump Room' .
• Further conversation, viewing of museum and other information, powerpoints etc with refreshments.

Tickets £15 including tea/coffee and biscuits

STURDY FOOTWEAR REQUIRED.

Visitors' views:

• Fascinating tour of Cragend Farm! Well worth the visit to see the restoration work of this ancient farm remodelled by Lord Armstrong of Cragside and the unique silo with remains of the hydraulic system to make and store silage. Brilliant!
• We received a warm welcome and refreshments in the farmhouse kitchen prior to the tour. The tour was led by Lou Renwick the owner of the farm. Lou is both passionate and very knowledgeable about the farm and its historical connections to Lord Armstrong.
• We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to your fantastic farm ... it was the most interesting HHA visit we have ever done. 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.
• [We] enjoyed the tour of your fascinating farm … both enjoyable and very informative. The work you have done is to a high standard and sympathetic to the farm. Your knowledge of the property, and the research that you had done was really interesting.
• Amazing place! ... We were fascinated. Enlightening tour ... Wonderful to see engineering like this preserved ... Fabulous and inspiring! ... Amazing insight into such an intriguing place. Incredible window to the past ... Tremendous! Absolutely fascinating. Well-presented tour. Really interesting ... Valuable engineering history. Captivating
• What a great tour and such interesting talk on the history of the farm & how it fitted into the local area. Plenty interaction and was just a great experience. I wouldn't say I was even a history buff, but I really enjoyed my day on the farm. Would recommend to others local and from afar. Well worth a visit.
• Amazing tour today around the farm. I've lived and worked close by for years and known its recent history, but never been into buildings till now. A lot of time, effort, and money has gone into its restoration. Well done.
• Lou gave us a really interesting tour of a truly historic farm. The tour was friendly, we were given tea (or coffee) and biscuits on arrival while being told about the history of the buildings. Lou was really knowledgeable, not just on the farm but of the local area, the life of the Armstrongs , and despite saying at the beginning that she was not an engineer she obviously understands the mechanics of Lord Armstrong's various hydraulic installations. She also talked about farming rare breeds, but as I think it was obvious that all visitors in our group were mainly interested in the history, archaeology, architecture and engineering, she kept that brief. I'm certain that she tailors her talks to the audience and should a farmer or other person interested in rare breed farming come along she could go into a lot more detail. On being taken round the farm she was well aware of the physical capabilities of the group and ensured that someone with a bad back had places to sit while she talked about each building. The silo building is from an industrial archaeology point of view the highlight of the tour. Again being aware of the group she gave us the option of going up to the top floor and down to a below ground level. Both of these involved steep steps. She made sure that when she talked about what was on these floors she described them machinery in detail, standing near the stairs in one case and near an open window in another so that people who could not manage the stairs could hear. After the tour we returned to the farmhouse for another cup of tea or coffee where we were shown various items found on the farm, dating from Roman times to WWII graffiti. Here we also had plenty of time to discuss what we saw and ask questions. Altogether an excellent visit which left me knowing more about the neighbourhood. I would highly recommend this.