This foundation bushcraft course is designed to provide you with the bushcraft skills and confidence to run some basic bushcraft sessions with your own group including 🔥firelighting, 🔪safe use of knives, 🪵wood craft, 🏕️shelter building, 🌿foraging, 🍳open fire cooking and many more bushcraft skills…..

Spend two unforgettable days immersed in 200 acres of breathtaking Welsh countryside, right on the banks of the River Wye. With access to woodland, wetland, hedgerows, moorland, pasture and the river itself, our stunning bushcraft site is the perfect place to learn, relax and connect with nature.

Led by highly experienced and qualified instructors, our course is fun, friendly and packed with hands-on learning. Safety is our top priority, and with small group sizes, you’ll get plenty of personal guidance. You’ll take part in a wide range of engaging activities, from fire lighting and shelter building to foraging and tool use – all while gaining the skills and confidence to pass your knowledge on to others.

Base yourself at our bushcraft camp, where a roaring campfire will be at the heart of your experience. Over two days, you’ll enjoy practical sessions both in camp and across the stunning, diverse landscapes that surround us. Whether you’re looking to build your bushcraft expertise, connect with like-minded outdoor enthusiasts or develop the skills to teach bushcraft to your own group, this course is the perfect opportunity to learn, share and explore.

What you'll learn to teach:

🔪 Knife Skills & Edged Tools: Learn the do’s and don’ts of using a knife and managing a group undertaking knife sessions. Become proficient in the fundamental cutting techniques and use these skills to complete a number of craft activities ready to share with your group.

🏕️ Shelter Building: Look at a number of useful and practical knots that will enable you to anchor and then tension cord to create the perfect tarp shelter. Explore the woodland and experiment with natural materials to construct a low impact shelter.

🔥 Fire Lighting: Develop your group and resource management along with your fire lighting skills in a variety of different ways; using ferrocerium rods, flint and steel, solar and friction. Collect and experiment with different tinders and learn how to make charcloth.

🪓 Knife & Tool Maintenance: Gain an understanding of how to care for and maintain your group’s knives and tools including a deep dive into different methods to sharpen your blades.

🍳 Cooking on Fire: Work as a team to cook breakfast over an open fire - eggs and bacon have never tasted so good! Make your own delicious campfire bread with a selection of herbs and spices to experiment with; be as creative as you like.

🌿 Basic Foraging: A brief introduction to the basic principles and legalities of foraging followed by a short walk to see what seasonal edibles are about.

🪵 Craft Activities: A number of small craft projects and challenges using a knife - pendants, whistles and eating utensils along with alternative projects such as cordage and charcoal pencils.

This isn't simply two days of learning bushcraft skills for yourself.

The focus is on developing your ability to share those skills with others.

Over the 2 days you'll learn and practise a range of core bushcraft activities while exploring how to deliver them safely and effectively to a group.

You'll develop your understanding of:

✓ How to structure and deliver basic bushcraft sessions

✓ Safe practice when working with groups

✓ Managing people during practical outdoor activities

✓ Knife and tool safety

✓ Fire safety and fire management

✓ Choosing and preparing appropriate resources

✓ Simple activities that can be adapted for different groups and abilities

✓ Creating engaging, practical learning experiences

✓ Working within appropriate boundaries when teaching bushcraft

The emphasis throughout is practical. You'll spend your time outside, learning by doing and working alongside experienced instructors.

It could be ideal if you:

• Work in outdoor education or outdoor activities
• Run or work for an adventure business
• Are ex-military and want to develop your existing fieldcraft, outdoor or instructional experience into a new career or teaching role
• Work for a local authority or community organisation delivering outdoor, environmental or wellbeing programmes
• Lead Scouts, Guides, youth or community groups
• Work in schools, Forest School or environmental education
• Already deliver outdoor sessions and want to add bushcraft
• Have strong personal bushcraft skills and want to start sharing them with others

You don't need to be a professional bushcraft instructor already.

We aren’t saying we’ll turn you into the next Ray Mears in 2 days but we’ll  help you develop the practical skills, confidence and understanding needed to start delivering basic bushcraft sessions safely and effectively.

After 2 days, you'll leave with…

✓ Greater confidence in delivering basic bushcraft activities

✓ Practical experience with firelighting, knives, tools, shelter building, foraging, cooking and craft

✓ An understanding of how to manage groups during practical bushcraft activities

✓ Ideas and activities you can adapt for your own groups

✓ A better understanding of safe practice when teaching bushcraft

✓ Practical experience of delivering and participating in bushcraft activities

✓ A certificate of completion

✓ Your own Hultafors bushcraft knife

✓ Two days of practical experience working alongside experienced instructors

You will be operating in the outdoors throughout the course, including working with fires.  Please wear old clothes you do not mind getting dirty and potentially damaged.  Pack sturdy boots or shoes and layers to keep you warm and dry.

Feel free to bring your own bushcraft tools with you e.g. knives, axes and saws, however the instructor will need to ensure that the tools you bring are suitable for the course and will check them before use.  A bushcraft knife will be given to all adult participants and other tools will be available to borrow.

At night you will have the option to sleep under a tarp shelter you have constructed (your choice at the time). A tarp and ground sheet can be provided, or you can use your own if you wish.  However we appreciate this is not for everybody and you may wish to bring your own tent or hammock. Please bring your own sleeping bag (suitable for the time of year) and sleeping mat. We do have spare sleeping bags, mats and tents, however you will need to inform us in advance if you need to borrow any of these items.

You will need to bring your own food for the first day but food for the second day will be provided.  The first day's lunch should be a packed lunch but you will be able to cook on an open fire in the evening if you wish.  Plenty of hot water, cooking grills and a limited selection of frying pans and pots will be available. Please bring your own plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery etc. and any specific additional catering equipment you may require.  This is not a survival course – you will eat well throughout, hot drinks and biscuits will be readily available, there won’t be any game dispatch or preparation and you won’t be asked to eat a plate of insects!