Recently my family and I had a great day at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust site in Barnes, London.
I was already looking forward to a nice day out with my kids, wife, aunt and uncle but was pleasantly surprised to find some wilderness living inspiration alongside all of the great nature-based activities and interest on offer.
The site is split into zones focusing on ecology and native peoples from different parts of the world.
Two things caught my eye – a yurt which sits in its own little field and looks like it is used to host groups inside and an impressive log cabin in the ‘Northern Forest’ section.
The Lodge – a reproduction fur-trade era log cabin. Photo: Barry Smith.
The cabin looks like a recent construction, is well built and inside hosts a few displays dedicated to the native people of the northern forests and the trappers of the fur trade era of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The interior of the log cabin, including pot-bellied stove. Photo: Barry Smith.
There is a mock up of a bed with Hudson’s Bay blankets, snow shoes on the wall, a double-bit axe, a musket and a selection of traps.
Bed made up with Hudson’s Bay Company point blanket. Photo: Barry Smith.
Best of all there is a little chest with crafts and artifacts from that time; Cree moose hide moccasins, a handmade arrow, an example of Native American basketry and a birch ladle.
Typical fur-trade era items on display – moose-hide moccasins, clay pipe, blood root, arrow, ladle and basket. Photo: Barry Smith.
All in all, this was a pleasant surprise and nice to see things that appeal to my bushcraft interests right in the heart of the city.
What unexpected places have you found bushcraft inspiration? Have you discovered a great display in a museum, wildlife park or heritage site? Let us know in the comments section below…
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford houses a fantastic anthropology collection including some interesting fire making equipment from around the world. There are other Bushcraft related items in there too. It is a fascinating museum and quirky with it. Bring a torch; it can be difficult to see into some of the packed display cases which are crowded into a rather dimly lit part of the building. Well worth a visit!
I agree there, Steve- I am always telling people to go to Pitt Rivers and I must go again myself!
I think there is/was a display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, it had a selection of tools and some examples of fire making equipment. I was being dragged about by my nephew so I do not remember too much of what was on display.
Yes I was thinking about Pitts River too.
The Pitt Rivers collection is in the same building as the Natural History museum Ray, so we are thinking of the same place. I also seem to remember the Scott Polar Research Institute and Polar Museum in Cambridge being of interest although I’ve not been there for several years. There is an online facility for the some of the collections perhaps the most obvious being the Arctic Material Culture Collection; see http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/catalogue/armc/
Hi Steve,
Yes, the Scott Polar Research Institute is still well worth a visit. Ian and I spent a good afternoon there earlier this year.
Best,
Paul
Pitt Rivers is one of my favourite museums too but the anthropological collections in Oslo and Karasjok are pretty good too.
Steve, thanks for the tip on Pitt Rivers. Sounds like its worth a visit. Barry
The British museum in London has a few gems in and when I visited Brighton museum a few years back, they had a lot of indigenous displays too.
Agreed Austin, the British Museum has some lovely displays. I particularly like the Native American section with its wide cultural representation from Inuit crafts to Plains Indians clothing.
Favourites of mine are also the ancient Europe and Middle Eastern galleries on the upper floor as well as Africa on the lower floor. That said, when visiting the British Museum, I always get the feeling that I’m only seeing the tip of an iceberg. There is so much more that they could display on any one culture or period of history, yet don’t have the room.
A museum that didn’t have these restrictions and that I found particularly appealed to my interests, both in terms of African bushcraft and natural navigational techniques, was the The House of Wonders Museum of History & Culture of Zanzibar & the Swahili Coast, in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
I was somewhat aware of the history of the Swahili coast and trade routes between Zanzibar and the Arabian peninsular but this shed new light, increasing my understanding, particularly of old navigational techniques and use of trade winds.
Certainly too far for a day out from the UK but if you are ever in that part of the world, well worth a visit…
Both Skansen and Jamtli — two Swedish open air museums — have some stuff that are bushcrafty. The birch bark and split log roofs on the old houses, the birch withys used for all kinds of things, the old self sufficient ways of doing things.
Thanks for the heads-up Par