Hi Guys,
I thought I’d have a stab at a review of a great 3 day course I went on with Natural Pathways in Kent. It was the ‘Discovery Course- Basic Bushcraft, Survival Skills and Nature Awareness’ 9th-11th May near Canterbury in Kent.
The school is run by Hannah Nicholls, who has an extensive knowledge of bushcraft and has spent time with Trackways in the UK as well as the Tracker School with Tom Brown Jnr in the States. Her assistants are Lief Bruylant, who has an amazing knowledge of, and passion for, wild plants and herbs and Sally Wallington whose knowledge of all things practical in bushcraft is vast. Each seems to have a subtly different take on the whole subject of bushcraft with Lief erring towards the spiritual, Sally the practical and Hannah somewhere in between. All of them are generous with their knowledge, which surprisingly I haven’t always found to be the case at other places. They are also extremely passionate about bushcraft, and that is infectious as we all know.
I have been on a couple of basic courses in the past so some of the practical stuff I already knew but it was great to have a refresher course, as it were. The topics you might expect from a ‘Basic Bushraft’ course were covered in good detail i.e., debris shelters, fire by friction, natural cordage, knife work and safety as well as loads more but what attracted me most to book the course in the first place, and indeed what I got most out of, was the nature awareness and ‘spiritual’ aspects of the course.
Now, I have never been labelled a ‘tree hugger’ nor have I ever been called a ‘survivalist’ (honestly no offence meant to either groups) – well actually I have been called both but only by the guys in the office who’s idea of interacting with nature is flicking to the National Geographic channel accidentally while looking for football . As simply as I can put it, I love spending time in our woodland and forests and bushcraft lets me do that more comfortably, safely and opens my eyes and helps me appreciate the beauty that is there. Oh, and I get to play with knives (safely of course).
As I said, it was the spiritual side of this course that drew me to it initially and throughout the weekend the practical lessons were interspersed with more ‘leftfield’ exercises such as being told to walk off into the woods and find a quiet spot to sit, think and connect with your surroundings. Another good one was being led blindfold to a tree and then spending a few minutes, still blindfolded, feeling and getting to know it in total silence. After the few minutes were up you were led back to your starting point, spun around a few times and then had the blindfold removed. You then had to go with your gut feeling and find you way back to ‘your’ tree. Amazingly, I walked in an almost direct line to mine (one of hundreds in the area). I still have no idea how I did it, but as I said the feeling was amazing and dare I say it…… emotional. The were lots of little exercises like this throughout the weekend and once I got over my initial crippling cynicism, and fear of looking like a dick, I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
It would probably be going too far to say I’ve had my eyes opened to a whole new outlook on my bushcrafting but I’ve certainly had a peek at a different approach and I like it. If I had to sum up the course and come up with a common theme throughout the weekend it would be two words- respect and gratitude. I guess the best example of this would be how Lief thanks every wild plant she takes a few leaves from to add to the wonderful salads she makes. The course must have left a mark on me as I’ve found myself muttering a few words of thanks under my breath now and again on my foraging!
Would I recommend this course?......... I think I just did.
Would I go again?............Oh yeah.
Hope this helps guys,
Kim
I thought I’d have a stab at a review of a great 3 day course I went on with Natural Pathways in Kent. It was the ‘Discovery Course- Basic Bushcraft, Survival Skills and Nature Awareness’ 9th-11th May near Canterbury in Kent.
The school is run by Hannah Nicholls, who has an extensive knowledge of bushcraft and has spent time with Trackways in the UK as well as the Tracker School with Tom Brown Jnr in the States. Her assistants are Lief Bruylant, who has an amazing knowledge of, and passion for, wild plants and herbs and Sally Wallington whose knowledge of all things practical in bushcraft is vast. Each seems to have a subtly different take on the whole subject of bushcraft with Lief erring towards the spiritual, Sally the practical and Hannah somewhere in between. All of them are generous with their knowledge, which surprisingly I haven’t always found to be the case at other places. They are also extremely passionate about bushcraft, and that is infectious as we all know.
I have been on a couple of basic courses in the past so some of the practical stuff I already knew but it was great to have a refresher course, as it were. The topics you might expect from a ‘Basic Bushraft’ course were covered in good detail i.e., debris shelters, fire by friction, natural cordage, knife work and safety as well as loads more but what attracted me most to book the course in the first place, and indeed what I got most out of, was the nature awareness and ‘spiritual’ aspects of the course.
Now, I have never been labelled a ‘tree hugger’ nor have I ever been called a ‘survivalist’ (honestly no offence meant to either groups) – well actually I have been called both but only by the guys in the office who’s idea of interacting with nature is flicking to the National Geographic channel accidentally while looking for football . As simply as I can put it, I love spending time in our woodland and forests and bushcraft lets me do that more comfortably, safely and opens my eyes and helps me appreciate the beauty that is there. Oh, and I get to play with knives (safely of course).
As I said, it was the spiritual side of this course that drew me to it initially and throughout the weekend the practical lessons were interspersed with more ‘leftfield’ exercises such as being told to walk off into the woods and find a quiet spot to sit, think and connect with your surroundings. Another good one was being led blindfold to a tree and then spending a few minutes, still blindfolded, feeling and getting to know it in total silence. After the few minutes were up you were led back to your starting point, spun around a few times and then had the blindfold removed. You then had to go with your gut feeling and find you way back to ‘your’ tree. Amazingly, I walked in an almost direct line to mine (one of hundreds in the area). I still have no idea how I did it, but as I said the feeling was amazing and dare I say it…… emotional. The were lots of little exercises like this throughout the weekend and once I got over my initial crippling cynicism, and fear of looking like a dick, I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
It would probably be going too far to say I’ve had my eyes opened to a whole new outlook on my bushcrafting but I’ve certainly had a peek at a different approach and I like it. If I had to sum up the course and come up with a common theme throughout the weekend it would be two words- respect and gratitude. I guess the best example of this would be how Lief thanks every wild plant she takes a few leaves from to add to the wonderful salads she makes. The course must have left a mark on me as I’ve found myself muttering a few words of thanks under my breath now and again on my foraging!
Would I recommend this course?......... I think I just did.
Would I go again?............Oh yeah.
Hope this helps guys,
Kim
Can't say I'd feel too comfortable with all the 'spiritual' side of things. 
