Enrichment for Princess Risborough School

David has been providing Bushcraft enrichment at Princess Risborough School – once per week all students have an enrichment session. These sessions provide an opportunity for students to broaden their knowledge, acquire new skills and above all, have fun learning something new. As part of this programme, David was invited to provide Bushcraft sessions for year 5 (rising 12 years).

For our first week, we started with fire lighting skills, covering a few different methods and lighting a fire on the school playing field (we all found that fun!). Students practised leave-no-trace, which meant there was no evidence left of our campfire, just as well given where it was! The following week saw us erecting shelters and building on previous skills: lighting a storm-kettle to boil water. Continue reading “Enrichment for Princess Risborough School”

Take a walk on the wildside

Berkshire Life and Buckinghamshire Life Magazine with Venetia Hawkes

Great to be featured in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Life Magazines in an article written by Venetia Hawkes. Venetia spent a day with me researching this article for the magazine, finding out what it’s really like to live outdoors in the wild woods. Sitting around the campfire, we spoke about how I got started and where I learnt to be a woodsman. We whittled spoons and baked bread while talking about foraging, campfires and living in the woods, a lovely day, thank you Venetia! Continue reading “Take a walk on the wildside”

Summer holiday outdoor learning for children

Home-Ed Bushcraft at Shortnills

We were natures detectives, identifying trees; feeling the bark, observing the shapes of the leaves, the colours and even the smells, and then we made string and bracelets from grass and stinging nettles – well done to you all. It was wonderful to see some of the youngest identifying the trees!

Lots of children and their parents joined David in the woods for Environmental Learning and Bushcraft sessions at the Shortenhills Environmental Centre in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire.

(This lovely short video was filmed and edited by Kirsty Feasey at Active-In) Continue reading “Summer holiday outdoor learning for children”

Bushcraft Show Bread Baking Workshops

Bread baking workshops at The Bushcraft Show

It was great to be providing bread baking workshops at the Bushcraft Show again this year. Places filled very quickly, early on the Sunday morning, while the baking area was set up in front of the main stage.

The huge teepees of the main stage provided a nice back-drop and meant lots of people could learn about bread baking on campfires, whilst watching some of the teams make and kneed their dough, make bannock while waiting for the dough to prove, before finally baking their bread. Continue reading “Bushcraft Show Bread Baking Workshops”