{"id":3665,"date":"2015-05-01T09:11:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T09:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=3665"},"modified":"2015-05-08T15:40:02","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:40:02","slug":"a-weekend-in-the-woods-with-fenland-bushcraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2015\/05\/a-weekend-in-the-woods-with-fenland-bushcraft\/","title":{"rendered":"A weekend in the woods with Fenland Bushcraft"},"content":{"rendered":"

In April\u00a0I went with\u00a0my 13 year old son, his mate and his mate’s dad to a bushcraft skills weekend course run\u00a0by Andrew Callaghan from Fenland Bushcraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The course took place in a small wood on a private country estate in West Norfolk. Next to the wood\u00a0is a\u00a0lake, home to many talkative,\u00a0ducks, geese and swans. It’s a beautiful place and quite secluded.<\/p>\n

The communal gathering point for\u00a0the weekend was under a parachute shelter, which is also where we met for supper and breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"Fenland
Fenland Bushcraft parachute shelter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The day\u00a0started with\u00a0Andrew and his assistant, Geoff, demonstrating how\u00a0to start fires using firesteels, flints and bow drills.<\/p>\n

The boys tried all the tools and\u00a0after a bit of\u00a0huffing, puffing and experimentation managed to get a fire going.<\/p>\n

\"Fire
Fire lighting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up was wood working.<\/p>\n

The boys first learnt to use knives safely and then how to carve tent pegs and spoons. \u00a0It was a joy\u00a0seeing these young teenagers\u00a0so engrossed in an outdoor activity.<\/p>\n

\"Woodworking\"
Woodworking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the boys worked on\u00a0their crafts, I set up a hammock for Harry and a tent\u00a0for myself.<\/p>\n

As night drew in we left the wood for a walk around the lake. \u00a0We watched the sun go\u00a0down and the night sky go up with a thousand and one stars, no light pollution here!<\/p>\n

\"The
The lake at sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a hearty cowboy camp meal (expertly cooked by Andrew) we sat around the fire telling ghost stories before heading off to bed.<\/p>\n

\"campfire\"
Campfire and ghost stories<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We woke to a bright morning and brewed up some coffee.<\/p>\n

\"Coffee
Fresh coffee brewed on a Kelly Kettle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under the parachute shelter, Andrew cooked\u00a0up a mighty\u00a0breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"breakfast\"
Breakfast in the woods<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The smell of the bangers and bacon soon had everyone up and out of sleeping bags and crowding around with plates at the ready.<\/p>\n

The final activity of the weekend was spent with\u00a0the boys taking turns to evade and search for each other. \u00a0They dressed up in ‘gilly’ suits and and tried to blend in with the surrounding woodland.<\/p>\n

No one could find Harry…<\/p>\n

\"Gilly
Harry in the gilly suit hiding in the wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And all of a sudden it was time to pack up and leave.<\/p>\n

It was wonderful seeing the boys out and about in the woods with no thought of computers, PlayStations or mobile phones. \u00a0And us parents also had a great time, a win-win situation all around.<\/p>\n

If you live up in East Anglia and like the outdoors then I can heartily recommend Fenland Bushcraft. Alongside the kids and parents weekend they run bushcraft and survival skills courses for adults, all at very affordable rates.<\/p>\n

Check out more on their website: www.fenlandbushcraft.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April\u00a0I went with\u00a0my 13 year old son, his mate and his mate’s dad to a bushcraft skills weekend course…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3665"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3813,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665\/revisions\/3813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}