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A Bunch of Thyme

18 June 2026

A Bunch of Thyme

'A Bunch of Thyme' is a traditional English folk song about the loss of innocence and the passing of time. We give the words for a version collected by Bernard Parkin in the 1960s at his Folk Club, held at the Watermill Inn, Pateley Bridge.

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Meet our Stockist - Hedgehog Organics

16 July 2024

Meet our Stockist - Hedgehog Organics

Hedgehog Organics is a fabulous shop and box delivery service dedicated to the best locally sourced organic food, drinks and provisions and is located in the heart of the community in Bingley, West Yorkshire. 

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Nennius and Arthur's Battles Revisited: A Map of The Old North

01 May 2023

Nennius and Arthur's Battles Revisited: A Map of The Old North

Earlier, I wrote a first cut of a possible solution to Nennius' battles of Arthur. Here, I update that blog, correcting a mistake and firming up the reasoning, but it still places Rheged in the North between the Don and the Tyne.

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Culturally Resetting To A British Landscape And Heritage

24 February 2023

Culturally Resetting To A British Landscape And Heritage

Listening to Maggot Brain by Funkadelic (recommended by our daughter), I am somewhat regretting putting up the last few blogs. I am sure they will be ignored, trashed and ridiculed as the ravings of a madman. Nevertheless, they are how I have framed...

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The Lordship Of Elmet In West Yorkshire

23 February 2023

The Lordship Of Elmet In West Yorkshire

Ted Hughes writes of Elmet as a post-industrial, West Yorkshire landscape, but in the sixth century Elmet was a small, British region allied to Rheged and fighting the invading Anglo-Saxons. Here we bring back some of that glory.

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Summary: A History Of Y Hen Ogledd

22 February 2023

Summary: A History Of Y Hen Ogledd

A very rough and speculative summary of the history of the Old North, covering 540s - 660s.

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Summary: Geography Of The Old North

22 February 2023

Summary: Geography Of The Old North

Summary of the suggested place names for the poems of Taliesin, Aneirin and Nennius' battles of Arthur, giving new settings for Rheged and Goddeu.

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King Arthur Was A Northerner - Of Course He Was!

21 February 2023

King Arthur Was A Northerner - Of Course He Was!

Having already gone where only fools fear to tread, I have read Nennius' accounts of the battles of Arthur and have managed to unpick the secret in the text. Really, I have.

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Yorkshire Really Is God’s Own Country

21 February 2023

Yorkshire Really Is God’s Own Country

Aneirin's lament for the fallen soldiers at the battle of Catraeth rings through the ages. Based on my previous blog, I analyse the poems in the new geographic landscape to explain where I think Gododdin really is to be found.

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The Mystery Of The Lost Kingdom of Rheged

20 February 2023

The Mystery Of The Lost Kingdom of Rheged

Reading Taliesin's Heroic Poems unlocked a new way of seeing the space around here. Through them, I have come up with a possible landscape for the Old North, Rheged and the realm where Urien lived in the sixth and seventh centuries.

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Community House Ripon: Waste Not Wednesdays

18 October 2022

Community House Ripon: Waste Not Wednesdays

Ripon Community House, based in Ripon, North Yorkshire, runs a fabulous community scheme called Waste Not Wednesdays and we chatted to Caroline Bentham to find out more about it…

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Paradise Lost: Far Too Much New Housing Being Built In Boroughbridge

24 April 2022

Paradise Lost: Far Too Much New Housing Being Built In Boroughbridge

Along Aldborough Gate and all around Boroughbridge, they're building stacks of new houses. There's been no joined up thinking and the new builds to the south break the boundary of Boroughbridge, priming it for yet more expansion.

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Boroughbridge Celebrates the 700th Year Anniversary of the Battle of Boroughbridge

21 March 2022

Boroughbridge Celebrates the 700th Year Anniversary of the Battle of Boroughbridge

700 years ago there was a battle fought at Boroughbridge and we've just celebrated its anniversary. It was the first time that the longbow was used in battle, 24 years before the decisive English victory at Crecy.

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2016 - A Truly Weird Year

30 December 2016

2016 - A Truly Weird Year

2016 has been a strange year, with political events intruding on our best efforts at Steenbergs.  These external factors will impact the business for many years to come, and will make everything trickier and riskier.  However, they will not deflect u...

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Dear BT, Are You Still There?

19 September 2016

Dear BT, Are You Still There?

Dear BT

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Steenbergs: progress at 11 Hallikeld Close

29 June 2016

Steenbergs: progress at 11 Hallikeld Close

Progress on Steenbergs' new factory is moving along decently since April.  The joists have been put in for the second floor and most of the flooring.

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Brexit, Steenbergs and the future

26 June 2016

Brexit, Steenbergs and the future

While I had been nervously expecting that Brexit result, it's not until you hear it that the impact really hits you.  And while it remains a shock, we must look forward and deal with the additional risks that it throws at us, as well as seek out thos...

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North Yorkshire Nature Notes - May 2016

01 June 2016

North Yorkshire Nature Notes - May 2016

Flowering hawthorn and cow parsley on the verges by Upper Dunsforth

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Springtime Reaches Aldborough

10 April 2016

Springtime Reaches Aldborough

Boroughbridge Road Near Marton-cum-Grafton

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