15 – 17 October 2021

A weekend of high-quality workshops to inspire outdoor professionals.

This weekend brings together highly experienced deliverers of woodland-based crafts/skills to provide you with valuable guidance and instruction.

You are welcome to arrive from 4pm on the Friday, ready for an 8.45 start on Saturday morning. Choose from a fantastic selection of bushcraft workshops, all delivered by highly experienced professionals.

The Programme

Friday 4pm arrivals and set up your camp

Saturday 16th October 2021

Sunday 17th October 2021

The Workshops

Make a Bucksaw

Join Pete for this great workshop making use of a bow saw blade along with a selection of carefully trimmed branches along with the usual know how to create a very workable collapsible bucksaw.

Spoon Carving

From wood selection and preparation through to using an axe and knife to produce a tidy cooking spoon. Great for stirring up some creativity.

Bushcraft Facilitation Skills

Join Liz and Dave for an enlightening look at how Bushcraft skills can be used to relate and engage those with emotional challenges. With some quite commonly used crafts/skills we will draw out important aspects/concepts which can enhance people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Fire Roll

No this is not a first aid session but a look at a fascinating and novel fire lighting method using cotton wool, a bit of ash and some know how. Through desperate measures this technique was used by prisoners of war in the 1940s to light their cigarettes.

Bread & Butter

In this session you will learn how to make a couple of simple bread recipes and cook them on the fire. No bread is complete without creamy butter, so we’ll make some of that too. Depending on seasonal availability, we may even add some foraged foods to flavour our breads and butter.

Nordic Slinging Braids

In this session you will learn how to make a decorative Nordic braid using the co-operative slinging technique, and make your own set of weights to take away with you. These are fun to make and an excellent activity to explore in a variety of settings: forest schools, youth groups, mindfulness groups, team-building sessions etc.

Feather Sticks and Flowers

Creating an effective feather stick for fire lighting takes a little care and control with a blade but once you have acquired this skill develop the art of making wooden flower like decorations which are hugely satisfying as well as impressive.

Tree Identification

Take a fresh look at Trees, with a variety of sensory and sometimes dramatic interpretation.

Bullroarers and Throwing Sticks

Often called the Aboriginal Telephone, learn to make and use one of these fascinating implements using simple techniques and a little know how. Making a Hopi Indian Throwing stick is fairly straight forward and using one is just plain fun.

Using a Pump Drill

This fascinating ancient technology has been used for making fire, as well as general drilling, and still has its place in the modern world within the jewellery industry. This workshop will give you insight into how to use a pump drill for fine work as well as creating fire. You will learn what makes an efficient set as well as make some nice simple bushcraft jewellery.

Campfire Gadgets

Create some clever adjustable pot hangers as well as other items to enhance the fire place area.

Sharpening Skills

Bring along your knives and axes and learn how to get a keen edge on them. There will be tips on maintenance and care. If you don’t have any knives then there will be some to sharpen anyway.

Science through Bushcraft

This is the third time that Rupert has presented a workshop at Excellence in Woodland. It continues to follow the theme of looking at ways in which curriculum science, mainly at secondary level, can be taught using the outdoors to support the learning experience. The workshop is aimed at Teachers of science, Bushcraft practitioners who work with school age pupils, Forest School leaders and anyone with an interest in providing a rounded learning experience for their students. The workshop will sample a range of topics and approaches to teaching, combining the acquisition of bushcraft skills and linking these to key parts of the science curriculum at GCSE and KS3. 

Make and Use an Atlatl

This ancient projectile enhancer is both fascinating and fun to make and use. With Rupert’s scientific mindset he has regularly used this technology in schools. So bring the fun back into learning!!!

Hand Drill

Learn how to work with a Hand Drill fire lighting set both in a relay as well as progress your personal skill with this often illusive Bushcraft Skill. Time will be spent on some of the lesser known tips which like all skills make such a difference.

Bow Drill Variants

Look at some of the many variants of the Bow Drill in order to work with a very wide range of clients from young people, businesses as well as folks with limited ability.