Bushcraft & Survival Weekend

We cram as much quality instruction and outdoor experience as we possibly can into your two days out in the woods. By Saturday night you'll be sleeping in your own leaf litter shelter, warmed by a fire you've lit yourself (not a match or lighter in sight) eating a meal made from gathered foods. You might even be carving something useful or making string from plant fibres by the light of the fire.

Over this weekend you will receive instruction and practical experience in:

Building survival shelters

Lighting fires in all weathers using survival and improvised equipment

Safety with back country cutting tools

Wild plant identification for food and medicine

Natural bindings and cordage

Cooking over a campfire with minimal or improvised equipment

Finding water and making it safe to drink

Survival trapping

Natural navigation

Preparing and cooking wild game

Come prepared to be showered with invaluable information, introduced to some life saving skills, work hard and have a lot of fun at the same time.

'As I wipe my bloody hands on a patch of grass, I reflect on how dull, by comparison, a spa weekend would have been. Who wants a pedicure when you can flense a rabbit, instead?'

Caitlin Moran, The Times

Wilderness Survival Skills runs a selection of courses packed with information and practical experience gathered together from an array of different sources and personal backgrounds.

All courses are held in a woodland setting of hazel coppice, twisted moss covered oaks and silver birch and are spent entirely outdoors however there are plenty of covered areas within the woods to enable lessons to carry on regardless of weather conditions. You will spend your nights under canvas or in a shelter you have made from the woodlands around you. Close neighbours will be Roe and Muntjac deer, foxes, badgers and buzzards.

Sessions will start with a general overview of the subject followed by a demonstration culminating with plenty of ‘hands on’ time to put the new skills into practice. Questions are welcome at any point and we strive to provide a ratio of one instructor to five students on all courses. You do not have to turn up looking as if you have coated yourselves with glue and run through Millets and we won’t expect anyone to wear animal skins either. The kit you need to bring is minimal.