Could somebody please recommend a good school/course teaching in depth primitve skills in the UK?

[PolymahArtisan]

There is a bit of a story to this.

I've been into buscraft and survival all my life, and with hindsight I can see that over time I've been trying to become more and more self-sufficient, need less and less equipment and learn to do more and more from only the materials I find around me. Recently, this has got me right down to wanting to learn the most primitive skills I can, making everything myself, so that I use the tools I make to make further projects. Hence my recent posts. I am also booked on some courses for specific skills (flint knapping, bone needles, pottery). I've always especially liked handicrafts and I decided that over the next year I want to try to build up a full toolkit a bit like this over the course of different workshops. Pictures to follow one day...

Upon discovering this community (not just this forum, but the wider community of primitive/paleo/abo skillspeople on the web) I fell in love. I immedietley wanted to learn as much as possible. With this in mind, I looked for a few broad ranging courses to cover the basics and maybe some more as I built up, ideally looking for a large school (I should say here that I'm in the UK and that my baic bushcraft skills ith modern materials like a knife and magnesium striker are pretty good). I found Native Awareness and I just fell in love all over again. There was a bit of a saga with this, which ended with my discovering that Native Awareness is no longer running. So, I am looking for a recommendations for a different school with a similar kind of outlook in the UK.

What I really liked about Native Awareness was the legth and depth of its courses. I prefer one longer course to a succession of shorter ones (most really primitive/'lithic courses I can find are weekends or day courses) because of the community element and the integration of skills together, not learning in isolation.

I also liked the slightly spiritual outlook of NA. I recently discovered Druidry and Paganism and although the ethos was all about native (presumably) American teachings the spiritual ideas are pretty similar and courses like this, this and this tied in well with it. Finally, I really liked how courses like the Advanced Skills included stuff beyond what is found in the standard courses offered by other providers, things like spinning and weaving natural yarns or Medicinal Plants.

So I'm asking for recommendations for other course providers in the UK of the same sort of style.

Thank you very much, all help and general advice is appreciated!

P.S. If anyone knows of another course or even just a short workshop about 'bird language'/interpreting bird calls that would be cool too.
This is also crossposted on Reddit and PaleoPlanet, this actually means quite a lot to me so I wanted to cast the net as wide as possible.

 

[Robson Valley]

Archeologists in Paleo sites begin with 3 lines of evidence = Food (including fire and flint), Shelter (design and materials) and Clothing. Universals.
Maybe some places you can get away with no shelter and no clothing but the Food issues will follow you everywhere on earth.
We used to call all this "camping." As kids we were taught to cook fish in clay in the embers of the fire. Is that what you want?

You won't know what questions to ask until you try something, like bow drill fire making. Master that one.
Flint knapping, that I can see needing lessons and workshops.
Right now, I'm using 'first strike' flint blades for food preparation. Nothing sharper not caring who made the steel knife.

I'll guess there's a lot of reading and self-help to advance.
Ellsworth Jaeger was a anthropology museum director, away back in the early 1940's.
He collected everything he could learn about paleo living in eastern North America.
Wildwood Wisdom was published in 1945 and reprinted in 1992. Not expensive.

Find a copy of the UK book: Knots by Des Pawson. How's your cordage? Maybe 2 dozen knots would be handy.
= = =
Your human history developed over thousands of years.
In North America, it was Neolithic, right up to the moment of European contact.
WHAM! from the stone age to the Iron Age, over night.
So any paleo experience you want is far closer to the present here than at your place.

 

[crosslandkelly]

You could look to Will Lord, Stone age / Bronze age courses. http://www.will-lord.co.uk/will-lord-courses.html

 

[Toddy]

Three people.
Patrick McGlinchey
Joe O'Leary
John Lord. (and his son Will)

There are a heck of a lot of really, really competent bushcraft instructors and schools available, but those three men, any of them, won't lead you amiss in what you're looking for.
They might not hit your particular 'spirituality' bang on, but they'll understand where you are coming from and would all offer the kind of skills that would benefit your journey......and they are all damned good craftsmen too

M

 

[Man of Tanith]

I would echo Mary's suggestions

As for the spirituality aspect
That i think you'll have to find yourself

 

[snappingturtle]

As a pagan I hope you don't mind if I plant a seed, Most of the lore has been lost (oral tradition) but everything pagan is written in nature, just go there and listen and learn how to listen, all you wont to know is there.

 

[PolymahArtisan]

Wow. Thank you so much for all your sggestions everybody. Bit of an update from me. I looked at all the sugeestions and noew I really want to learn from Will Lord. The breadth of th skills he teacghes is quite astonishing and I really look forward to that. Apart fro that I have also found a couple of other schools I like the look of: Natural Pathways, Trackways and the Mesolithic Resource Group.

 

[Man of Tanith]

If i may be so bold
Perhaps look at the schools as what skills you can learn then go out and practice them a lot in all weather conditions snd at various times of day and year

The schools only give you the knowledge of the skills.
The other side of it you'll learn as you go

 

[PolymahArtisan]

If i may be so bold
Perhaps look at the schools as what skills you can learn then go out and practice them a lot in all weather conditions snd at various times of day and year

The schools only give you the knowledge of the skills.
The other side of it you'll learn as you go

and then:

If it ain't Raining then it ain't Training!

The first I can certainly agree with (not the raining bit). In fact, that was sort of how I came to be asking to learn more skills in the first place. I camp a lot with the Forest School Camps who taught me woodcraft when I was young. Then i discovered stuf like flintknapping and tanning and thought 'that would be perfect for Haddanham!' (Haddenham are monthly volunteering weekends where we maintain all the kit, then sit and drink and knit/sew/knap in the evenings). The longer camps are great too and staff (I've just turned 18 so I'm staffing now) are encoraged to do workshops and tutorials for the younger children. I've got a place to practice (and have practised with the less primitve skills over the years!) just need to learn the skills.

Also, courses and workshops offer opportities to do things I couldn't otherwise (like building coracles) and that's just really cool.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Absolutely courses help you do stuff you may not have a chance to do

When i did the campcraft one i felled trees. Sure couldnt do that elsewhere i would get in all sorts of trouble!

As for the training if you can get the fire burning hot and the shelter stays dry in the rain you've certainly got the nack

 

[Tengu]

You need a postgrad on Experimental Archaeology.

 

[Toddy]

That'd kill the spirituality right out of him though; hard not to with all the range of peoples and their beliefs.

M

 

[Spirit fish]

There is a bit of a story to this.

I've been into buscraft and survival all my life, and with hindsight I can see that over time I've been trying to become more and more self-sufficient, need less and less equipment and learn to do more and more from only the materials I find around me. Recently, this has got me right down to wanting to learn the most primitive skills I can, making everything myself, so that I use the tools I make to make further projects. Hence my recent posts. I am also booked on some courses for specific skills (flint knapping, bone needles, pottery). I've always especially liked handicrafts and I decided that over the next year I want to try to build up a full toolkit a bit like this over the course of different workshops. Pictures to follow one day...

Upon discovering this community (not just this forum, but the wider community of primitive/paleo/abo skillspeople on the web) I fell in love. I immedietley wanted to learn as much as possible. With this in mind, I looked for a few broad ranging courses to cover the basics and maybe some more as I built up, ideally looking for a large school (I should say here that I'm in the UK and that my baic bushcraft skills ith modern materials like a knife and magnesium striker are pretty good). I found Native Awareness and I just fell in love all over again. There was a bit of a saga with this, which ended with my discovering that Native Awareness is no longer running. So, I am looking for a recommendations for a different school with a similar kind of outlook in the UK.

What I really liked about Native Awareness was the legth and depth of its courses. I prefer one longer course to a succession of shorter ones (most really primitive/'lithic courses I can find are weekends or day courses) because of the community element and the integration of skills together, not learning in isolation.

I also liked the slightly spiritual outlook of NA. I recently discovered Druidry and Paganism and although the ethos was all about native (presumably) American teachings the spiritual ideas are pretty similar and courses like this, this and this tied in well with it. Finally, I really liked how courses like the Advanced Skills included stuff beyond what is found in the standard courses offered by other providers, things like spinning and weaving natural yarns or Medicinal Plants.

So I'm asking for recommendations for other course providers in the UK of the same sort of style.

Thank you very much, all help and general advice is appreciated!

P.S. If anyone knows of another course or even just a short workshop about 'bird language'/interpreting bird calls that would be cool too.
This is also crossposted on Reddit and PaleoPlanet, this actually means quite a lot to me so I wanted to cast the net as wide as possible.

self teach thru books and error youl learn far more and save money on the process most schools are rip offs and use pre selected perfectly dry seasoned bowdrill sets so it's good for learning form but isn't the real world