Develop Your Outdoor Skills, Knowledge and Confidence
Bushcraft Courses With Frontier Bushcraft
Frontier Bushcraft provides a variety of bushcraft courses. These range from a one-day bushcraft and survival foundation course to a bushcraft weekend sampling wider variety of bushcraft skill-sets (as well as camping out in the woods, of course), through to a variety of week-long full-immersion courses.
Our foundational week-long course is the 6-day Elementary Wilderness Bushcraft Course. We also offer courses in related skills such as axecraft, tracking, navigation and expedition canoeing.
Our instructors are experienced, friendly, qualified outdoor educators and leaders. We look forward to helping you on your bushcraft learning journey. Through training with us, you will develop a practical knowledge of nature that will allow you not just to survive, but to thrive outdoors.
Keep scrolling down to find a full listing of our bushcraft, wilderness skills and canoeing course offerings.
The Value Of Learning Bushcraft Hands-On
People come to bushcraft in numerous ways, through books, magazine articles, blogs, TV shows, YouTube videos and more. Among these are some great resources.
Ultimately, though, to get the skills under your belt, you have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
Bushcraft isn’t just about knowing, but also about doing. Bushcraft is practical. In short, bushcraft entails using your hands, as well as your brain.
Bushcraft learning is also about observing more closely – in person – and learning more deeply.
A relationship with nature through bushcraft is active, not passive. When you learn bushcraft, you don’t just observe nature, you interact with it physically.
In-Person Teaching Remains Invaluable For Practical Skills
While you can learn by trial and error, possibly with the guidance of some classic bushcraft books. But learning from a good instructor is quicker, more efficient and avoids some of the pitfalls of working on your own.
Watching videos can be great, especially for solving immediate problems (we all do it to learn how to fix things at home, or on our computers for example). However, video platforms aren’t so good at providing a structured, progressive learning experience. Moreover video lessons can’t provide feedback or give you personalised tips for progressing more effectively.
Moreover, learning on your own all the time can be lonely. Even if you enjoy watching and learning from videos and figuring things out from books, joining a course for a different mode of learning will be a great experience. Certainly it will move your skills and understanding forward. You can quiz experienced instructors for information, hone your skills under a watchful eye, get some coaching, meet like-minded people, and enjoy good times around the campfire.
Our Courses – Learn Bushcraft, Survival Skills, and Much More…
Bushcraft Essentials Course (2-day bushcraft weekend)
Bushcraft Essentials is for those who wish to learn as much as possible in the shortest possible time. The emphasis is very much on practical application rather than theory. In return for applying yourself, you will gain a skill-set which is extremely enabling.
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Elementary Wilderness Bushcraft Course (6-day core bushcraft skills course)
The Elementary Wilderness Bushcraft Course provides comprehensive training in the cornerstone skills of bushcraft. An in-depth course over 6-days.
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The Woodcrafter (6-day comprehensive axe skills and campcraft course)
The Woodcrafter course is centred on one of the most important cutting tools for outdoor life, the axe. This course is built around learning to make the most of this versatile and valuable tool. But it’s not just about axe technique. We also share with you and give you the opportunity to apply a wide range of camp craft, woodcraft and carving techniques in the proper context.
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Intermediate Wilderness Bushcraft Course (6-day immersive bushcraft experience)
The Intermediate Wilderness Bushcraft Course starts where most bushcraft training finishes. Extending and expanding on bushcraft fundamentals, this course will allow you to take your skills and knowledge to the next level and gain an increased understanding of bushcraft.
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Outdoor Emergency Preparedness Course (7-day survival skills and first aid)
Aimed at hikers, bikers, campers, bushcrafters, canoeists, riders, shooters…. in fact anyone who spends time outdoors for leisure or work, who might need to be able to look after themselves and companions when things go awry. This unique course brings together the the skillsets of Frontier Bushcraft and Real First Aid. Frontier Bushcraft brings experience in both bushcraft and survival skills training, along with preparing for and undertaking remote expeditions. Real First Aid brings experience in first aid training for remote environments.
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Wilderness Wayfinder (6-day Complete Wilderness Navigation Course)
The Wilderness Wayfinder is our flagship navigation course. It is an in-depth six-day programme examining all aspects of land navigation. The course incorporates traditional wayfinding methodologies, natural navigation knowledge, map reading, compass skills, time and distance techniques, and even the integration of GPS. Find out more…
Tracking and Nature Awareness Course (6 days of honing your senses)
The Frontier Bushcraft Tracking and Nature Awareness course is designed to teach you the observation and tracking methodologies you need to find, watch and follow wildlife.
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Reconnect With Your Natural Heritage Through Bushcraft Skills
Humans are both intelligent and practical. We’re both cerebral and physical. We are good at figuring things out and we are good with our hands.
These days, many people spend more time typing and swiping than anything our hands originally evolved to do. Before you take exception to this assertion, remember you are reading this on a screen.
Dexterity, hand strength and tool use are no longer things which most people necessarily develop as part of day-to-day living.
Over 80% of people in the developed world live in urban or suburban environments.
Many adults lack knowledge of nature and struggle to take care of themselves outside of urban areas.
However, as a species we grew up in nature.
Our ancestors had an intimate knowledge of the land, the seasons, the resources. Much of this knowledge was passed down from generation to generation by youngsters observing, playing, and learning outdoors from an early age. Children watched their parents’ activities, imitated what they saw adults do, and received encouragement to get their hands dirty.
Parents and grandparents shared knowledge and wisdom through stories and practical teachings. Oral transmission is of central importance in traditional societies.
A Cycle Broken and a Disconnect
Sadly, the traditional process of learning and gaining experience has been disrupted by modern lifestyles. For most, the intimate relationship with nature has gone. For some, having any relationship with nature is at most tenuous or sporadic.
Yes, many of us crave a connection with nature, seeking to recognize trees and plants, find wild food, use simple tools, and create things with our hands. The ability to spot animals, their tracks, and other signs is an almost forgotten skillset that still resonates with us. Navigating confidently without getting lost or feeling stressed is crucial to us maintaining our place in the natural world. Sharing knowledge of nature and new-found know-how with our children is important too.
The evidence is indisputable that being in nature, specifically green spaces like the woods, is beneficial for our mental and physical wellbeing
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We weren’t built to sit in a cubicle 24/7.
It might seem that having to learn unfamiliar outdoor skills is purely a modern phenomenon, possibly as modern as the smartphone. On the contrary, this has been going on for centuries. Bushcraft as a body of practical knowledge began based on the need to prepare to travel through and subsist in unfamiliar wild lands.
Additionally, a long tradition exists of people versed in bushcraft skills further bolstering their abilities and improving their understanding by means of local strong>indigenous knowledge. Experienced bushcraft people then shared this combined knowledge with less experience people through newly-formalised training and books.
Bushcraft Training Very Effectively Bridges The Knowledge Gap
Nowadays there are many people like you who want to learn about nature and gain practical skills for outdoor activities. At the same time there is also an organised, systematic body of knowledge, in bushcraft. Plus, there is means of learning these practical skills relatively quickly in the form of modern bushcraft skills training courses.
Why Choose Frontier Bushcraft Courses?
Renowned bushcraft instructor Paul Kirtley heads up the Frontier Bushcraft instructional team. All of our course leaders have practical experience of applying their skills, knowledge and judgement in wild places. This brings a level of experience and realism to our training rarely found elsewhere.
Because we run expeditions in wild and remote parts of the world, we are applying much of the core skill-set for real. Plus, in our travels we often meet people who use bushcraft and related skills as a major part of their daily lives. There is always something to learn from others.
So, we bring to our UK-based bushcraft and survival courses a sensibility, practicality and philosophy of using these skills for real, of living by them and depending upon them. We therefore teach bushcraft skills in a way that is realistic, pragmatic, without romantic embellishment and extremely practical.
Benefit from our Highly Effective Teaching Methodology
Our training methods are simple and proven
Throughout our courses, key skills are taught in a structured way:
- techniques are first introduced, explained and demonstrated;
- you will be given the opportunity to practice under the watchful eyes of the instructors;
- throughout the course, techniques are built upon and added to;
- you will come back to core techniques repeatedly;
- in approaching techniques from various angles and using them in different situations, the aim is to turn technique into skill.
Contact time with instructors is high
To maintain excellent quality instruction we keep the maximum number of participants on Frontier Bushcraft courses low and the instructor-to-student ratio high.
Our teaching style is friendly and open
We believe knowledge is for sharing. We hope you will squeeze as much know-how from your instructors as you possibly can during your time with us.
The aim of our courses is for you to not only see the techniques, or even just ‘have a go’, but to fully participate in learning to apply them in a realistic way.
Practice does indeed make perfect!
You carry the skills and knowledge of bushcraft in your mind and in your muscles.
Only through directly applying knowledge and practising skills will you make them your own.
We look forward to helping you achieve as much as possible in your time with us on whichever course you choose.
What Our Students Say
“If there’s anyone out there trying to decide which company to choose, to either introduce them to, or to further their bushcraft knowledge, then I can wholeheartedly recommend Frontier Bushcraft.” Adrian Burt.
“If anyone is hesitating about doing a course with Frontier Bushcraft I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Paul has that rare gift of combining superb knowledge with an easy going teaching ability.” Gary Waidson.
“If anyone has a ‘bucket list’ or wish list; a day with Paul ‘out in the woods’ has got to be on it! You will be very hard pushed to find a better practitioner or instructor in the UK.” Mark Hotson.
“For anybody considering doing something similar, whilst I do not want to sound like I’m on commission, this is worth every penny. The time spent with friends and children is really very special and the laughter and knowledge lasts a lifetime. My advice, stop thinking about it and just book it!” Simon Holdsworth.
“I would like to thank Paul Kirtley of Frontier Bushcraft for an absolutely awesome weekend. There was one problem with the weekend…. It went far too quickly. This made going back to the office A REAL CHORE, let me tell you. We shall definitely be doing another weekend course but next time adding some wild game into it. Thanks once again Paul for a brill weekend.” Marcus Hackney.
