14 April 2023

Coed Olaf - Climate and Climate Change

Having discussed the history of Coed Olaf, we now move onto the nitty-gritty of its environment, so here we discuss its current climate and the likely impact of climate change.

07 April 2023

Coed Olaf - Industrial Heritage of Amman Valley

Coed Olaf is not only on former farmland but is a landscape shaped by its industrial heritage. Amman Valley was a mining valley and the towns between Ammanford and Brynamman were created when the railway came and opened stations.

31 March 2023

Coed Olaf - History of the Holloways and Paths

Continuing our review of the social history of Coed Olaf, we discuss the tracks that cross the woodland. In particular, there is a beautiful old holloway with two stone-faced banks and trees arching over it like the path in Lord of the Rings.

24 March 2023

Coed Olaf - History of the Woodland

Coed Olaf is a newly planted wood with parcels of new and old woodland. Here, we discuss the baseline of how much was covered with trees in the past and if there is any evidence of previous woodland within the landscape.

17 March 2023

Coed Olaf - History of the Farmland

Coed Olaf comprises old, established woods and newly planted wood. The new trees have been planted on former farmland, and here we explain what we know of the farming history of the land.

08 March 2023

Steenbergs Sustainability & Impact Report 2022

2022 has been a tough year for sales and costs. Steenbergs has reduced its environmental impact, by cutting water use and waste and eliminating electricity from fossil fuels. We are carbon neutral and zero waste to landfill.

27 February 2023

Time for Tea with Ella from Rasa Teas

Have you heard of Chocolate Tea? It's a wonderful combination of cacao husk flavoured with delicious organic ingredients such as vanilla, orange and rose. 

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

20 February 2023

The First British Poem About Trees – ‘The Battle of the Trees’

'The Battle of the Trees' is an old Welsh poem that is about a magical battle where the magician, Gwydion, brings trees to life to help the Britons beat the Picts. This is my take on the poem.

09 January 2023

The HBD Cookbook & Q&A with Petronella Ravenshear

Petronella Ravenshear is a huge advocator of organic produce, a lover of herbs and spices and the author of The HBD Cookbook, a collection of delicious, healthy recipes, based on her popular Human Being Diet. As author and nutritionist to t...

30 November 2022

Festive mulling spices – not just for wine!

Here at Steenbergs we are well known for our sustainable, ethically sourced spices that are hand blended in our eco factory in North Yorkshire. At this time of year, attention often turns to the warm, fragrant spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg...

17 November 2022

The Leaning Poplar – Is It A Hybrid Or A Native Black Poplar?

There's a poplar trees leaning over from our boundary hedge onto a neighbour's land and it needs to come down for safety. We were concerned it could be a black poplar, so ran some DNA tests to determine whether it was. It is a hybrid poplar.