Best Survival Schools and Courses

[Turner50]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post in here as i have just registered

I am looking for a good survival school to start training and learning with. I live near Manchester but i am prepared to travel anywhere in the UK. I want to make the right choice and i have looked at some schools on Google but dont just want to go for the one with the best looking website.

I am initially looking to go on a 3 day course and build from there.

I am happy to consider all courses from military styled to bushcraft and all levels of intensity.

Can you offer me some advice please?

Much appreciated

Thank you

 

[Gray]

Welcome to the forum, to start off you might want to attend some of the meets first. These will give you a feel for the woods and there will be loads of advice. Might even help you decide what type of course you want to do, bushcraft or survival or both. A lot of the skills run very close together for both hobbies.

have a look in the meet ups section, north of England

 

[Turner50]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a list or calendar for these meets?

 

[Turner50]

Welcome to the forum, to start off you might want to attend some of the meets first. These will give you a feel for the woods and there will be loads of advice. Might even help you decide what type of course you want to do, bushcraft or survival or both. A lot of the skills run very close together for both hobbies.

have a look in the meet ups section, north of England

Thanks I will take a look

 

[plastic-ninja]

Welcome to bcuk.
The only school I have direct experience of is Woodsmoke and was 100% satisfied with them.
If you go to one of the shows (Bushcraft Show etc.) you could meet some of the tutors & see whose style you feel suits you best.
Most of them seem to run some sort of workshops for the public at these events, so you could pick up some skills too.
Cheers, Simon

 

[Turner50]

Thanks Gray, I will take a look

 

[Turner50]

Thanks Simon.

 

[ammo]

Hello mate and welcome to the forum.
The above advice is really good. Gray is in G.M.B.C, so you won't go wrong with him/them. I'm out this weekend meeting people from the forum who I've never met before. Same again next month. This weekend is too soon but if you want to come next month your welcome.( I take it your over 21) I'm free and out most weekends so if you want to meet up pm me. Obviously you are responsible for your own safety and actions, but if I can help you in any way, your more than welcome.
With regards to which is best, there isn't one. It's what's best for you. I want to go on Coastal Survival, but that's just me. Good luck.
Kal.

 

[wingstoo]

I am a great believer of learning with friends rather than paying vast amounts at an early stage, buy a book, get a few friends together and get some practice in. Then when you want to progress look for those on here who teach...There are a few, most of them are good, and most aren't overly commercial.

 

[rg598]

I would say save your money. There are plenty of good schools around, but you will not see anything there that you will not find on a forum or a Ray Mears DVD. Take everything you learn in schools or elsewhere with a grain of salt. There is no substitute for time in the woods. Like others have said, look up some of the meets and start there. None of what we do is brain surgery.

 

[adestu]

I've been on a few.enjoyed them especially the bow making with John ryder.
You can learn a lot from going to meets as well.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ivan...]

Hi Turner, welcome to the world of Bushcraft! I am sure you will learn loads closer to home by attending a meet near you, but if you ever want to broaden your horizons, and are prepared to travel, you would be more than welcome to come and experience Dartmoor, at most it would cost you a fiver a night, and some of the good folk that come would teach you as much as you wanted to learn, then you could make a decision about paying for a proper structured course, keep an eye out for my announcements in the South West area, and if it fits you would be more than welcome.

Regards.

Ivan..

 

[Bluffer]

I would advise you to attend the Wilderness Gathering http://www.wildernessgathering.co.uk/ticket.html or the Bushcraft Show http://www.thebushcraftshow.co.uk

They are 'commercial' orientated and you can meet many of the schools and their staff face to face.

That way you can decide which course and which instructor is best for your needs.

The meets are good for some mentoring contact, but you may pick up bad habits. People are generally well intentioned but the trained eye spots some real howlers.

The real value of a course is the professional coaching, you won't pick up the same bad habits that people often do from simply copying others.

I hope this reply is not seen as biased, my experience has been gained from over 20 years of doing this sort of thing as a profession in many different areas of the world and I still learnt a lot when I did a basic Level 2 course.

UK academic meaning of Level 2 http://ofqual.gov.uk/qualifications...fication-frameworks/levels-of-qualifications/ I have no idea of how that compares to US/Canadian learning environments.

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Hi, Turner.

As you're near Manchester, you would be welcome to join us at the Greater Manchester Bushcraft Group. We have regular Meets throughout the year, roughly once a month. There are plenty of experienced bushcrafters in the group, and they are happy to help a newcomer. If you look up the group on Facebook and send a Join Group request, all the information is on there. Come and join us, we don't bite.

Alan

 

[Turner50]

Thanks for all the info and offers to attend the meets. Much apreciated

 

[robevs73]

Woodsmoke gets my vote and they are only up the road for you.

 

[ozzy1977]

You will learn far more with a good group than what you learn on a course.

 

[Bluffer]

You will learn far more with a good group than what you learn on a course.

Genuinely?Do you say that from experience ozzy? Or speculation?

Done many courses?

 

[wingstoo]

Genuinely?Do you say that from experience ozzy? Or speculation?

Done many courses?

I think you will find that to be the case, but the time frame might be a little longer, but a lot cheaper, and a lot more fun...

Personally I haven't been on any courses run by professionals, but I have had some great free weekends with friends and joint knowledge.

 

[Toddy]

I know a lot of bushcrafters I know a lot of folks who do Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning, and I know quite a lot of the folks who runs schools.
Very, very, few of the latter are full time.
That's the financial reality of the situation.

I think, no I know, that every school has it's own 'flavour', it's own individual spark of something different, something interesting, something special

The bushcrafters I know are an incredibly capable bunch of folks, with a huge and wide ranging set of skills and interests, but if you really do want to have some kind of structure to your basics, then the schools have some very, very sound people. Some of those are run by some incredibly inspirational people

I don't think that the school's fees are extortionate, or even expensive, tbh., what would you spend on a couple of nights out for a decent meal and then clubing/pubing and compare the costs. I know which I'd find more fun

I realise I'm kind of going agin the flow a bit here, but I honestly find watching/listening to/ learning from skilled people to be utterly fascinating.

I think if I wanted to do a course, I'd probably ask for opinions on the schools nearest to me, and get on one of their courses to see how I got on.
Then I'd look for ones on topics that really caught my interest

The Meet ups are absolutely brilliant, they really are and there is no real substitute for actually getting out and practicing/ living/ doing it but sometimes folks need that boost to their confidence before they go it alone.
The members who have invited you along to their meets are all very genuine people, and well thought of too. You won't regret going along

Best of luck with it, whatever you choose to do.

cheers,
Toddy