Course recommendations?

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

Hi all, hoping you can advise...

Its my 30th birthday THIS year in April (got to get use to writing that along with 2007 now!) and I wanted to do something I wouldn't normally have the time or money to do and my wife is going to get the family to chip in and I was hoping to do my first bushcraft course.

Can anyone recommend a fairly entry level course that I am likely to be able to get a place on in April onwards this year that is within a reasonable driving distance of Kent or even better in Kent itself?

I looked at the Raymears one and its fully booked til next year (2008!)...

Any recommendations appreciated, especially if you can supply a link to a website giving it the run down and the cost involved.

Cheers
Geoff

 

[The Joker]

Hi ya Geoff,

Forest knights.............Been on one of there courses would recomend and the're in W Sussex.
www.forestknights.co.uk

Bearclaw.............Not been on one but I know a few who have and say the're great bunch of guys and good courses.
www.bearclawbushcraft.co.uk


There are a few others but I don't know them but Im sure others will put them forward.

 

[Neil1]

There are a lot of very good schools out there, there is a list on the BCUK frontpage.
Another option is to go along to Wilderness Gathering in September. A lot of the schools "show-case" there, the two mentioned by Pete and many others- Bushcraft Expeditions,Woodland Survival Crafts, Backwoods Survival, Survival School, Bison Bushcraft (who I work for), Dryad Survival, Islay Bushcraft, etc, etc.
At this event you can meet the instructors, see them at work and get a "feel" for them.
Hope this helps
Neil

 

[British Red]

Not done either but based on what I've heard from people whose opinion I trust,

I would also say Wayne at Forest Knights
www.forestknights.co.uk (met him - nice fellah)

The other person whose insights I would love to gain is Fenlander - I reckon you could do much worse than his Basic Bushcraft course

http://www.naturallore.co.uk/

Red

 

[raskusdrotti]

I would definately recommend Bearclaw

Have been on the Vildmark course and it was fantastic!!

 

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

Thanks for the suggestions. Forest Knights and Bearclaw both sound great and are reasonably close by.

The bushcraft canoe course really caught my eye, but I'd like to do something more fully bushcraft orientated and hope to pic up more land based skills as much as I'd love to go paddling for a weekend!

NaturalLaw looks good to and is very reasonably priced, but appears to be more day course orientated and I'd like to do a whole weekend type thing. Does Fenlander run the courses on NaturalLaw then?

Gonna be hard choosing between the two, but they both really good so I will have to find out what dates are available and check with my mate who wants to come along for 'the experience'

If anyone knows any others they want to add then please do, but all the above are near enough to me and reasonably priced enough that I will happily go with one of those.

Can anyone talk from personal experience of the above and what it was really like and what was learnt?

Cheers
Geoff

 

[miniac]

Mate I have been on the "green horn " course that Gary runs at Bearclaw bushcraft. AMAZING!!!! That about sums up my experiance. We started of with a welcome and safety speach then bedded down for the night. After breakfast, we covered some knife, axe and saw stuff berore embarking on our very own spoons. Then some fire stuff some sheltor building and some safe water stuff. All was great, Gary and JP are a great pair and very knowlagable. Very easy to get on with.

Gary dosnt mention this much but he used to work for Ray Mears at Woodlore.



More recently Bearclaw arranged my stag do and are running a weekend for my explorer scouts. I have found them to be very easy to deal with. , and great fun.



Please remember that these are just MY VIEWS...and I dont work for them blah blah....

 

[willowherb]

check out tamarak
they are great.i went on a course in scotland with them and we had a great time
run by a great guy called mike

 

[Dave Budd]

I'm glad this thread got started, I've been thinkin I should go on a bushcraft course to see how people teach things! I guess I'm looking more to those in the southwest since that's where I am

funding is one reason that I haven't got around to going on any. maybe I will have to negotiate a skills swap

Good luck with your search for courses to go on this year Geoff!

 

[Stuart]

Natural Pathways is the closest school to you

check out the BCUK schools page, all the well known schools are listed there:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/content/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=37

 

[tomtom]

Dave, i think perhaps www.wildwise.co.uk maybe even closer to you, I have done a couple of courses with them and its really a fantastic experience!
The two Chris's do the bushcraft bit are really good at what they do!

 

[Dave Budd]

TomTom, Wildwise is definately the closest, it's in the same National Park in fact!

 

[tomtom]

TomTom, Wildwise is definately the closest, it's in the same National Park in fact!

Thought it might be I did the 'Walkabout' which was fantastic fun!