The Woodland Ways Week is our advanced Bushcraft course and is designed to evolve and heighten your Bushcraft Skills.

Throughout this 5 day course you will become increasingly immersed into the rhythm of the Woodland. Our instructors will enable you to make full practical use of the resources available to you in a sustainable manner, and to understand your effect on the balance of the wood. Through the week we gradually reduce your reliance on modern equipment so that by the end of the week you are using only natural materials for all your Bushcraft activities.

Day 1

We begin the course on the Monday where following your safety brief; you are issued with your own Bushcraft Knife, Saw, Fire Steel, Food, Water and a Basha. This equipment is your springboard for overcoming the four basic principles of Survival- that is Fire, Food, Shelter and Water.

Our first objective of the course is for you to establish your camp, and so with your issued kit you are guided to set up your own camp, based on the techniques learnt on previous courses. Time is also spent gathering your fire wood and getting your fire lit. Our instructors are on hand to provide assistance at all times.

Once your camp has been established we move on to prepare a deer carcass, where we will not only harvest the meat, but also sinew, skin and bone for use later in the course. (Vegetarian alternatives are available).

The venison forms the basis for your evening meal.

During the evening of the first day we undertake a night time awareness exercise to understand the rhythm of the wood and the Fauna within. Through the night you have the opportunity to begin tracking and are encouraged to experience the woodland without white light.

Day 2

On the Tuesday morning following breakfast it is time to construct your Woodland Shelter. The morning is dedicated to you building your own shelter where you will sleep at night for the rest of the course.

Following lunch we look at trapping and snaring where you have the opportunity to make a selection of your own traps. (Please note due to ethical and legal issues the traps will not be used to catch food).

To maintain the food theme our instructors will then take you out on a forage to re-introduce you to some of the plants and trees that you have learnt on your previous courses, and help you to start to gather natural foods. There is also the opportunity to make those final touches to your shelter.

During the early afternoon you can harvest your own materials to make a tracking stick.

Following the evening meal we then introduce you to animal tracks and signs, where you will also set a track trap. Our instructors will be on hand for some one to one instruction to improve your stalking techniques.

Day 3

Following a night in your shelter we start to slowly reduce the amount of kit we are relying on and so your basha, spare clothing, snacks and saw are removed.

After breakfast, Wednesday morning is purely dedicated to lighting fire by friction. Our instructors will introduce you to lighting your fire by friction, and you will then build your own fire bow set. We spend the morning working with you on a one to one basis to enable you to master this very satisfying technique.

Throughout the day you also have the opportunity to make your own tools and equipment using natural resources- such as wood, bone, hide, sinew, flint etc. This equipment is up to you but may include carving your own spoon, a utility box, water carrier, a flint scraper etc. Our instructors will be on hand to assist you with any of the projects you wish to choose.

The evening is spent going beyond the celestial navigation techniques you learnt on your weekend as we spend the evening learning the constellations (subject to weather conditions).

Day 4

On Thursday for those that wish we have an early start where we gather before sunrise and establish ourselves in our sit spot positions. As the light grows we will monitor the effect on the flora and fauna.

We then spend the remainder of the morning foraging for suitable woodland material to make a raised bed for your shelter; we also gather materials to keep you warm. At this point we further reduce the volume of equipment that we hold as we say good bye to the fire steels, knife, sleeping bags and roll mats.

Following lunch the afternoon is spent looking at a number of techniques for filtering and purifying your water, and you have the opportunity to make your own natural water filter. We also undertake a forage in order to have a completely "wild" evening meal.

On the last night the group comes together round the communal campfire to relate their experiences, before sleeping on their completely natural camp bed and under their natural duvet cover!

Day 5

On the Friday morning we look in depth at extraction from the area. We look at search and rescue techniques, signalling, and casualty evacuation. Concluding with a group exercise to search for, locate and extract a casualty. The course concludes at midday.

At the end of the course you are presented with your very own Bushcraft knife, a handmade wooden topped fire steel, and a certificate of completion. You also of course have the equipment you have made yourself to take home, including your tracking stick, water filter, water carrier, utility box etc.

Contact us for more information on info@woodland-ways.co.uk 

Prior Bushcraft knowledge is essential in order to attend this course, for example by attending our Woodland Ways Weekend course or through demonstrating other personal experience. Please note this course is not an "extreme survival" course, rather it is designed to increase your confidence in your Bushcraft abilities. If you wish to undertake an "extreme survival course" please contact us and we will be happy to make recommendations on quality survival schools that we have experience working with.

As with all of our courses no one will be asked to do anything they are not comfortable with. Vegetarian options are always available and if you wish to retain your pieces of equipment through the week this is fine.

Course costs:
£365 per person

This course can also be run on demand for organised groups, please contact us for details.

Do you like the idea of cruising down the river, with your rucksack stowed in the front of an open style Canadian canoe… that you have built yourself? Then read on!

Through this 4 day course you will build and use your very own Birch Ply Canoe. Either as an individual or a group of up to 3 friends/family, our instructors will provide you with all of the necessary materials and equipment to build your canoe, and teach you how to use it!

Our base for the beginning of the course is a small workshop in the grounds of an old Railway Station. Here we begin the construction of the canoe immediately upon arrival on the first day, building the side panels and frame. Between working on the Canoe, there are opportunities for you to learn some Basic Bushcraft skills, including lighting a fire and game preparation. In the evening there will a chance to sit around the campfire and unwind with our instructors.

On the second day we then begin to pull the canoe together, with lots of work going into sanding the panels and sealing the joints. We also continue to expand our Basic Bushcraft knowledge learning how to construct a shelter using a canoe and a basha, and we learn about water collection, filtration and purification.

On the third day it is back to finishing off the canoe construction before you put it to the test in the river running adjacent. We spend the afternoon practicing our canoe technique, and learning how to navigate using a map and compass, GPS, the sun, and natural indicators. Late in the afternoon we then head down river for a short while until we arrive at a wild camp in a small woodland. Here we spend the night putting into practice some of the bushcraft skills you have learnt on the course.

During that evening there is the opportunity to again relax around the fire, and weather permitting we will learn how to navigate using the stars.

The following morning, after breakfast, we break camp and paddle back to the station house where the course concludes at midday. The Canoe is yours to keep at the end of the course!

You can transport the canoe home yourself (the canoe will fit on the roof rack of even a small car), or Woodland Ways is happy to arrange transportation on your behalf at cost.

Alternatively- Woodland Ways is happy to market the sale of your Canoe where you can regain some of the cost back from your course!

Please note that accommodation on the first two nights is on a camping basis in the grounds of the workshop, here you will need to provide your own basic equipment, including food and drink. The workshops are located next to a busy railway line (all fenced off) and a quiet river (not all fenced off); therefore young adults should be supervised.

During the wild camp on the third night Woodland Ways will provide all equipment and food for you.

For a fact sheet on the style/type of canoe you will build please email us on info@woodland-ways.co.uk

Course costs:
Individual building one canoe - £550 
Group of two building one canoe - £325 each
Group of three building one canoe - £250 each

This course can also be run on demand for organised groups at weekends or weekdays, please contact us for details.

Our 4x4 Voyager course is designed to give you the confidence and ability to plan and tackle your off road adventures.

With an emphasis on fun and adventure, throughout this one day course our instructors will introduce you to the practical wilderness skills required to survive, based around the four principles of survival- fire, food, shelter and water- with an emphasis on using your vehicle as your survival resource.

On this course you also benefit from one to one instruction with our Landrover trained instructor on off road driving techniques. Here you will get behind the wheel of one of our Landrover 110’s on the purpose built 4x4 off road driving track.

This track incorporates ascents, descents, slide slopes, water and ruts. With our expert instructors you will be guided through every aspect of manoeuvring, approach, engagement and extraction.

To ensure you come away from the course prepared for everything, we also cover navigation techniques, from map/compass/GPS to natural navigation!

Each of these sessions involve you getting practical, hands on experience, and by prior arrangement you may also train in your own vehicle.

Skills covered:

Fire- Sources of fire: car batteries, torch batteries, headlamp, potassium permanganate, tinder, kindling, building and establishing your fire

Food- Game preparation, traps and snares

Water- Sourcing, collecting, filtering and purifying your water

Shelter- Use of your vehicle, bashas, campsite location, camp craft, building your camp

Survival Plan- Priorities: Protection, Provisions, Position
 
Off Road Driving- Ascents, descents, slides, water, ruts

Navigation- Introduction to map and compass, direction finding, pacing, relocation, distance, backbearings

Natural navigation, solar navigation, stars, moon, natural indicators, shadow stick

This course is set within the National Forest, on farmland with a purpose built 4x4 off road driving course.

Contact us for more information on info@woodland-ways.co.uk 

Course costs:
£100 per person

The course begins at 10:00 and concludes at 18:00

This course can also be run on demand for organised groups at weekends or weekdays, please contact us for details.

We are continuing to negotiate with a landowner in Scotland for another week long course, watch this space.