We are pleased to announce the release of Woodlore’s UK course dates for 2012.  These long-awaited dates include our usual range of bushcraft courses, as well as some new and exciting courses that have been in development this winter.

Fallow Deer

The new courses we are now offering include:

• Family Wildlife Walkabout
• Flint Knapping
• UK Woodland Navigation

The existing courses still on offer for 2012 include:

• Camp Craft
• Family Bushcraft
• Fundamental Bushcraft course
• Traditional Living Skills
• Junior Expedition Skills
• Junior Fundamental Bushcraft
• The Journeyman
• First Aid & Medical Training
• UK Woodland Navigation
• Woodlore Tracking course

Please visit the Woodlore website or call the office on 01580 819668. for more details or to book. Please note that we will be releasing the 2012 overseas course dates at the end of May this year.

The 2011 UK bushcraft course season is now underway at Woodlore.  This year’s season started off with two Fundamental Bushcraft courses, a Wilderness Navigation course and a Camp Craft course.  All of the courses so far have been a great success and the weather has been fantastic; we haven’t had a drop of rain!  So plenty of happy, tanned students around the campfire! It’s also been fantastic to see the field team back out in the woods again.

This week sees the start of the Introduction to Bushcraft courses over the Easter weekend, which is forecast for even more sun and higher temperatures.

Di and Steven from the office popped up to visit the Camp Craft course last week, where the groups were putting the finishing touches to their own shave horses, as well as working on other carving projects:

Shaping a wooden peg for a shave horse

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Last week saw Woodlore’s final course of the season take place – a Fundamental Bushcraft course run by Woodlore Fundamental Instructor Dan Hume:

It’s been a very busy and exciting year.  I think we all felt the bite of autumn last week, preparing us for the coming winter. – Dan Hume.

The following feedback and photo were sent in by Krzys Lender, who attended the last Fundamental course:

Hi Folks,

Please find attached a couple of group photos from last week’s course. I’d like to say again what a great week it was and that Dan, Emma, Kevin and Nick were simply brilliant instructors who were patient, encouraging, motivating and inspirational. Thank you all so much!

I have booked a navigation skills course for next year so hope to see you all again.

FAO Emma – Just as you predicted, I found my cordage when I got home. It’s rubbish so I’m off out later to collect more nettles to make something better.

Regards,

Krzys

The last Woodlore course of 2010

Here at Woodlore, we’re already getting prepared for and looking forward to the start of next year’s UK course season, which kicks off in April 2011. Hope to see you there!

Tackling the bow drill method of fire lighting on the Fundamental Bushcraft course

A new photo gallery is now online showcasing just some of the goings-on from our Fundamental Bushcraft courses from 2009 to 2010, including fire lighting, shelter building and spoon carving techniques:

Fundamental Bushcraft Photo Gallery

Spaces on our 2011 Fundamental Bushcraft courses are now live on our website and available to book.

An excellent selection of staff and student photos are now available to view in the Woodlore Photo Galleries area for the first ever Woodlore Wilderness First Aid course, which took place earlier this month. Be warned though, they’re not for the squeamish…

Woodlore instructor James Bath on the WEM2 course

Field staff member Tom with students during one of the navigation tasks

Last week we ran our first ever Junior Expedition Skills course. This is an advanced course for our younger woodloreans who have already completed the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, and are looking for ways to advance their skills in the field. Continue reading →

Last week we ran our first ever Woodlore Wilderness First Aid course, the second stage in our brand new series of wildnerness first aid courses run in conjunction with Fusion Medical Limited.  The course was a great success with all of the clients getting involved with the realistic and challenging first aid scenarios they were faced with, ranging from minor cuts to severe burns and major head injuries.  All the scenarios and injuries are based on real-life situations that could occur at home, at work or in the wilderness.

Woodlore instructor Dan Hume plays his part in one of the first aid scenarios

We now have a biography for Jamie Cooke from Fusion Medical Limited on the Specialist Instructors page of our website.  Jamie and his team from Fusion Medical Limited provide the first aid teaching on the series of Wilderness Emergency Medic courses Woodlore offer.

Cone wars, an epic battle of wits and stealth, fought in good-natured jest, saw the Woodlore staff up against the students of the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course.

It began one evening; three resourceful students were spotted acting suspiciously, doing what can only be described as a ‘naughty run’ – a bit like a cartoon burglar. Their ammo gathering foray was quickly cut short though by a pincer movement by Nick and Tom, but not before a jumper, sleeves tied to form a bag, full of pine cones had been collected.

Their planned attack in ruins, the students spent the rest of the evening around another group’s campfire looking at animal skulls from Sarah’s nature box. When they returned to their tarps however, they discovered they had been well and truly coned! Sleeping bags and rucksacks were stuffed full of the ammunition they had collected that evening.

They vowed to fight back, and so began a relentless campaign, which would by its conclusion result in the coning of a staff tarp, two rucksacks, a pair of boots and a Land Rover…

The first attack on the Woodlore Land Rover

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During the recent Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, a number of interesting wildlife sightings were made:

While out on a nature walk one day, the group spotted a beautiful fallow doe with a young fawn; they stopped on a well-lit section of track and looked back at the group for a few seconds before carrying on. In the middle of the night, one of the students woke up to find a badger pottering about near his tarp. And, last but not least, a huge grass snake was found near the tarps which, by the look of its bulging appearance, had just eaten.

The somewhat bloated looking grass snake spotted on the Junior Fundamental

We’ve recently had a couple of cancellations on this year’s Journeyman courses, taking place at the end of August. The Journeyman is Woodlore’s advanced-level Bushcraft course that takes place in Scotland, which people can attend once they have passed the Woodlore Fundamental Bushcraft course.

Continue reading →