Please Note: This website is out of date. The Steward Community Woodland sustainable living project ended
in 2018 for legal and planning permission reasons. The contents have been left here as a historical archive.
A decription of the woodland
Not all of Steward Wood is part of Steward Community Woodland. Part is owned by the National Park and consists of a semi natural upload oak woodland. The 32 acres that is owned and managed by us consists of three discrete plantation areas and was previously managed by commercial forestry companies.
The North West area consists mainly of mature Scot's Pine bordered by the unforested 'Growing Area' and some Norway Spruce. The central section of the wood is a small Ash plantation currently invaded by Sycamore and in need of thinning. It is however a very attractive area containing a stream and massive granite boulders. In the spring the area is covered in blue bells. The remaining, and largest section of the woodland, is heavily thinned Japanese Larch with an emergent understory of Hazel, Ash, Sycamore, Rowan and Oak.
The site is South West facing and mostly steep. The elevation is from 520 to 850 ft above sea level. There are deep brown earth soils of fertile loams over fractured granite. The granite has been utilised in the past to create dry stone walls dividing fields and may also have been used to construct the house that once existed towards the lower end of the site.
There are many streams on the site. Most of them are seasonal and follow the forestry paths. There are a few springs although again they are mostly seasonal. The land receives on aberage 49 inches of rain each year.