Meet Helen & Mike
Forged by Experience,
Guided by Nature.
We're qualified bushcraft instructors, ex-military outdoorsmen, parents of three — and we teach what we live.
Our roots
Our story
Helen comes from early years education — years of working closely with young children, learning how they absorb knowledge when the world around them is genuinely interesting. Mike spent his career in the military and has carried a deep practical knowledge of field craft, navigation and traditional skills with him ever since. Between us, three children, two careers, and a long-held belief that something has been quietly lost.
Forest school is wonderful, but we wanted to teach the real skills our ancestors lived by — not just supervised play. There's a difference between an afternoon spent in the woods and an afternoon spent learning how to light a fire in the rain, build a shelter that would actually keep you dry, and read the natural world the way people did for thousands of years.
So we built Beowulf — small-group bushcraft for every age, woven through with folklore. The stories belong with the skills; one without the other is only half the inheritance. Our sessions are quietly serious, properly hands-on, and full of the kind of knowledge that stays with a family for life.
What we stand for
Our ethos
We don't do mud-and-wellies for the sake of it. Every session teaches transferable skills — fire, shelter, navigation, knife work — that your family carries home.
There are stories in the trees, the seasons, and the way a spider builds its web. Knowledge sticks because it's fascinating — not because it's being taught.
Attendee names and ages recorded for every session. Strict no-photography policy of other people's children. Safeguarding isn't a tick-box — it's how we run.
We donate 5% of every session's revenue to the Woodland Trust, and £5 from every adult course to IJM. Skills in the woods, support for the woods.
From booking to woodland
How a Session Works
- 1
Choose your session
Family Bushcraft for ages 3–10 on alternate Thursdays, Tweens Bushcraft for ages 10–16 on alternate Fridays. Pick the one that fits.
- 2
Book online
Reserve your place in a couple of minutes — names and ages of attending children, and you're in.
- 3
Arrive at the woods
Greyfield Woodlands, High Littleton — easy to find, parking on site, kettle on the fire when you arrive.
- 4
Skills you keep for life
Fire, shelter, foraging, folklore — knowledge that stays with your family long after the session ends.
Our regulars can book by direct debit and come every session — no fuss, no missed places.
Woodland Trust partners
We donate 5% of every session's revenue to the Woodland Trust. We also run our sessions on land managed under a safeguarding contract that protects woodland habitat for generations to come.
Photographs
From the Woodland
