Northumberland farmer forced to sell entire herd of cattle after Storm Arwen damaged his cowshed

A farmer from Northumberland has been forced to sell his entire herd of cattle after Storm Arwen damaged his cowshed so badly it has taken more than a year to start rebuilding.

David Armstrong said “it was emotionally very difficult” to sell the herd of more than 200 cows which has been in his family for generations.

The storm began on 26 November 2021, and has been described by experts as the UK’s worst storm in decades, tearing down millions of trees and damaging homes and property across the North East and North Yorkshire.

The holes left in the roof of the 140-year-old Grade II-listed building, on Murton Farm near Berwick-upon-Tweed, were so bad that it was impossible to keep livestock in it.

Mr Armstrong said: "We couldn't house them over the winter in a shed like this.

"So we've had to take the decision to get rid of them. We just had to have a stiff upper lip and to get on with it, unfortunately."

When the storm hit, he said: "It was almost as if the end of the world was coming. It was quite biblical, really."

It damaged several buildings on Mr Armstrong’s farm, but while most have been fixed in the past year, he's been told the cowshed is beyond repair.

Dozens of slates were torn away, and the frame of the traditionally-built timber-rafter roof was twisted.

The shed needs to be fully rebuilt before animals can be housed in it again, but Storm Arwen caused so much damage in the area that builders have been unable to make a start on the project.

Mr Armstrong says that once the building is ready, he will definitely restock his farm with cattle, and keep up the family tradition.

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