Author Archives: Woodlore Limited

About Woodlore Limited

Woodlore, The School of Wilderness Bushcraft, was founded in 1983 by the British Bushcraft expert, Ray Mears. Paving the way for Bushcraft courses in the UK, Woodlore began with Ray teaching small groups of students the knowledge and techniques that he had spent most of his early life honing. With Ray’s ambition and perserverance, Woodlore has since grown into a world-renowned and highly respected school, offering in-depth courses on a wide range of bushcraft and survival subjects.

WINTER THE SEASON OF WISDOM

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“As Autumn matures, we can no longer ignore the Earth’s seasonal tilt away from the sun, Winter is coming. For many this calls a halt to outdoor adventure, tents are stowed in cupboards adventures shorten and people stay close to the home and the hearth. But not for me, I love winter, I welcome the seasons arrival. Native American friends once told me that Winter is the season of wisdom. For over thirty years now I have been exploring that concept, embracing the winter by racing North to the Arctic to experience the coldest most challenging grip of the season in northern Lapland. There the nights are long, and the sky is malevolent, palpably blotting up my vital life warmth into the quiet eternity of space. So why do I love extreme winter?

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A Customer Guide to Making a Binocular Strap

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The following guide and accompanying photographs were kindly sent in by Woodlore customer Barry Cheadle:

If anyone has ever admired Ray’s binocular strap and wondered exactly how it’s made, here is a detailed account of my journey to recreate the design.    

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Upcoming Appearances

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With the publication date of the new book British Woodland just around the corner, Ray is making appearances at a few festivals and book shops. Book your tickets to see him now:

2nd May – Stratford Literary Festival

3rd May – Swindon Festival of Literature

4th May – David’s Bookshop – Letchworth (SOLD OUT)

15th May – Chorleywood Bookshop

16th May – Toppings and Company – Bath

31st May – Hay Festival

7th June – Cheltenham Science Festival

A Message from Ray

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We find ourselves living through a challenging time, to say the very least. Like you, we have been listening to the sad news reports of Coronavirus victims on a daily basis. Our thoughts go out to all those who have lost family members or who have loved ones currently fighting the illness in hospital or at home in self-isolation.

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2020 Course Dates are Now Available to Book

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Our Woodlore courses due to take place in 2020 are now available to book on the website. We have many of the old favourites in the schedule including Fundamental Bushcraft, Traditional Living Skills, UK Woodland Navigation Family Bushcraft and Tracking.

Lighting a fire on the Fundamental Bushcraft course

In addition to some of the more regular courses we also have some new ones taking place this year including the Woodlore Bush Chef with Ray Mears and the Autumn Fungi Forager. The Emergency First Aider course is also back on the schedule after a short hiatus.

Autumn Fungi Forager

If you would like an insight into what happens in the Woodlore camp during our courses take a look at our video from the Introduction to Bushcraft course….

The Brown Filter Bag

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We have received this lovely post from Rupert Brown of Brown’s Bushcraft who tells us the story of The Brown Filter Bags:

My name is Rupert Brown founder and owner of Brown’s Bushcraft based in the South West of France. In addition to teaching bushcraft I am also the creator of The Brown filter bag. Along with many bushcrafters, I used Millbank bags for coarse water filtration and recommended these to students on my courses. The Millbank bag was used by the British military worldwide since the 1940’s. It was issued to every soldier along with chlorine tablets to provide a simple and effective means of treating dirty water. Millbank bags used to be readily available from army surplus stores. But when the army stopped using Millbank bags some years ago, they became more and more difficult to come by.

Millbank bag

The original millbank bag

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A Customer Guide to Spoon Carving

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The following text and lovely accompanying photographs were kindly sent in by Woodlore customer Tom Scandian:

You need very few tools for spoon carving which are very cheap and great quality, all of mine have come from Woodlore and include a Mora Carving Knife, S Djarv Hantverk large Spoon Knife, Folding saw and a Mora Heavy Duty. You can carve basic spoons with just a normal pocket knife, however a good quality spoon knife and carving knife go a long way to improving quality and detail!

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UK 2017 UK Course Dates are Now Available to Book

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Our UK course dates for 2017 are now available to book on the website. In addition to our usual selection of courses based in East Sussex and Scotland we have an exciting new Cooking course added to the calendar for this year.  We have also extended the reach of the Fundamental Bushcraft course to Gloucestershire with the Fundamental Severnside course. Book soon to avoid disappointment.

2017 UK Courses

2017 UK Courses

Ray will be leading a total of six Walk in the Woods and Carving Master Class days with Woodlore this year.  We would advise you to book your place to join us soon as these sell out very quickly.

A Walk in the Woods with Ray Mears

A Walk in the Woods with Ray Mears