We will run alternate weeks at our bases at Treacle Valley and at Cockington with a different focus each week. At Cockington we will run an art-based programme, while our Treacle Valley sessions will be focused on traditional crafts and conservation. We want to create friendly and welcoming spaces where you can come and meet other families of children with SEND, learn some new skills, be inspired and have some fun.

Children are very welcome to attend and depending on their age and numbers we may provide alternative activities for them so that parents can relax and enjoy the sessions.

To sign up, please complete our Microsoft Form by clicking here!

The big task of the day was the tarp line and Karl and I arrived early to get the rope in place. We harvested some saplings from the newly-levelled car park area and the team got to work sharpening these into points to use as stakes. Chris meanwhile was salvaging some boards to build a raised fire pit, removing old nails and screws and working with Hollie to cut them to size. It was an amazing team effort with everyone chipping in and showing the children how to use the knives!

The results are fantastic, I can’t believe that this overgrown patch of woodland has become such a wonderful space in such a short space of time and I am so grateful to everyone for all their efforts.

Our modern world simply doesn’t require the study of basic survival knowledge; knowledge that was once essential to our ancestors. Yet this understanding of the world around us equips us not only with ways to survive, but it gives us a sense of the interconnectedness of all things, and their mutual interdependence. It starts by learning the name of things, and then the whereabouts of those things, and then the properties of those things. What they might thrive near to. What they might need to grow. And gradually, a relationship develops along with an understanding.

Bramble can be used for cordage.  King Alfred’s Cakes can be used to keep an ember. Dried fern is good to catch the first light of a fire.    

This is where bushcraft comes in – a set of skills and techniques that enables individuals to live and survive in the wilderness, using only natural resources.

Bushcraft also offers numerous benefits to our students and young people, from building confidence and self-reliance to developing leadership skills and fostering a sense of community. So, what are some of the other benefits that we have seen from facilitating bushcraft skills?

Developing Self-Reliance and Problem-Solving Skills

Learning bushcraft skills encourages young people to think critically and develop their problem-solving skills. For instance, they might learn how to find and identify the right of wood to use for a fire, how to start and maintain a fire safely, and how to build a shelter using natural materials.

These skills require a deeper understanding of the natural environment and the resources available. By learning how to work with what nature provides, young people develop self-reliance and the ability to solve problems creatively, which can be applied in many areas of life.

Building Confidence and Resilience

Bushcraft can be challenging and requires determination and perseverance. As young people overcome obstacles and master new skills, they build confidence and resilience, which can help them to tackle challenges in other areas of their lives.

Bushcraft activities also require teamwork and communication, which helps to build social skills and a sense of community. Young people learn to work together to achieve common goals, which is a valuable lesson in any setting.

Connecting with Nature and Learning Environmental Stewardship

Bushcraft provides an opportunity for young people to connect with the natural world and to learn environmental stewardship. As they learn about the plants, animals, and resources in their environment, they develop an appreciation for the natural world and often cultivate a desire to protect it.

This connection with nature can also have positive effects on mental health, reducing stress and anxiety and promoting overall well-being. Once students understand more about a wild place, they often begin to feel a sense of safety there.

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks” – John Muir

Developing Leadership Skills Outdoors

Bushcraft requires young people to take responsibility for their own safety and well-being, which helps to develop leadership skills. By learning to navigate the natural environment and work together as a team, young people can develop the confidence and skills to lead and direct others.

By developing self-reliance, problem-solving skills, confidence, and resilience, young people are better equipped to face the challenges of life. By connecting with nature and learning environmental stewardship, they can develop a greater appreciation for the natural world and become better stewards of the environment. And by developing leadership skills, they can become better equipped to lead others in any setting.

To find out more about our Bushcraft programmes, please get in touch.

“When it comes to hobbies, I’d say I have a few; perhaps more than some people but probably a lot less than others – having a good hobby or two is essential to our well-being and social development, through them we can find a few hours away from the pressure of modern life, gain purpose, new skills, have events to look forward to and increase our circles of friendship. 

Of all my hobbies, the one I’m always most happy to talk about is Roleplaying. 

It started in secondary school. I was not a happy student, school was a daily battle against bullies and disappointed teachers – I was an undiagnosed Comorbid Dyspraxic with Attention Deficit Disorder – Learning difficulties didn’t really exist back then, so I was labelled as lazy, disruptive and because my likelihood of being an Ox/Bridge candidate was zero; completely useless in the eyes of a grammar school. 

There was one thing I did enjoy: The company. I made good friends, no, GREAT friends at TBGS. Not just one group either; I had friends that I enjoyed music with, friends I played football with (badly), computer friends, and most importantly, the friends who roleplayed with me. 

Roleplaying games had been around for a while; Dungeons and Dragons had been introduced in 1974 by Gary Gygax as a way of expanding on traditional tabletop wargames, rather than control a unit of cavalry or light infantry you would instead control a single character, using their skills and attributes along with other player characters to collectively tell a story, fight monsters and wield magic, the only limit was your imagination and the consequences of your actions were determined by rolling dice and the Dungeon Master – a non-player who sets the scene and describes what happens within the game. 

I don’t remember who suggested our first game but I remember it wasn’t D&D – we used the Warhammer universe instead. Citadel had released a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game and a futuristic space tabletop combat game, we liked both but were upset that you couldn’t roleplay the futuristic side (Warhammer 40.000). We didn’t have the money for official sourcebooks anyway so I set about writing the mechanics for running the 40K universe as a roleplaying game. 

I don’t think I’d ever written for fun before that point. I could be a pretty good Games Master when I put the effort in and ended up running most of the games at school although occasionally Rich or Gareth might have us doing something different like Rune Master, Call of Cthulhu, Middle Earth Roleplaying Game or my personal favourite; Paranoia. 

Outside of school I had a D&D group run by an older friend – he lived in Kingkerswell but drove to the Bay to pick us all up in his Devon Computers work van, four teenagers crammed in the back with no seatbelts, sliding across the floor of the van every time we took a corner at speed – it was the highlight of the week. 

In our third year, Rich decided that we should have a roleplaying convention at the school and went on to organise it. I’m pretty sure I helped a little bit but this was mainly Rich’s idea and one of the first times he showed exactly how good he was at doing this sort of thing. People came from far and wide; there were stalls and games and live roleplaying, it was quite an incredible achievement and it got us in the paper too!  Our success however drew us to the attention of another group. 

During the late 80s, a certain degree of controversy had sprung up around Roleplaying (specifically Dungeons and Dragons) – there was a very vocal contingent of Christian groups who believed that the game was a gateway to devil worship, they also had similar notions about heavy metal music. This is now referred to as “Satanic Panic”. Rich and I liked both of these things and as we each had long hair in our press photo, we must have set off some kind of emergency Christian fundamentalist beacon. 

Within the week we were called to the Deputy Head’s office (not an irregular event for me) and shown a letter from a “concerned” group who demanded that we attend a tea party to discuss the imminent danger to our immortal souls. 

We went, we met them, we laughed at the fact that they lived in Hobbit Road, we ate cakes, drank tea and we tried earnestly to explain that it was just pretending, it was harmless fantasy, and that generally you played heroes and heroines, slaying demons, not raising them. Yet they wouldn’t have any of it. We realised nothing would be resolved and before either party became too frustrated we went our separate ways our pockets filled with cheaply printed cartoon stories of D&D induced suicide and devil worship. 

Today Roleplaying games are more popular than ever with hundreds of Youtube channels, and millions of players. Very few people still believe that they imperil your soul; rather, their usefulness in treating depression, building confidence and awakening people’s imagination are finally being recognised. 

I still game every Thursday with my predominantly Exeter-based D&D group, there’s also a group at Kent’s Cavern I recently started playing with – they really are the things I most look forward to in the week”.

Will you be taking up a new hobby in January 2023? What’s a hobby that has changed your life for the better? Perhaps you might bring a new hobby with you into 2023; whether that’s something social and creative, a new sport, or a commitment to learning more about funghi. The world is your oyster!

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”

― John Muir, The Mountains of California

Any self-respecting blog post about walking should really contain at least one quote from the Scottish-American naturalist John Muir, even if by its sheer eloquence it does render the rest of the blog irrelevant. Muir was probably the first proponent of walking in the outdoors as a leisure activity, an environmental pioneer and true multidisciplinary natural historian, and was behind the concept of national parks. Hikers owe a lot to John Muir, even if he was contemptuous of the word itself:

“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’, ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”

The word saunter nowadays is more frequently used to describe a slow walk, taking your time, an easy pace. Leisurely, perhaps. In the fast-paced modern world we inhabit, where most of us fly too frequently, drive too fast and even information travels at the speed of light, sauntering is a luxury. We just don’t have time to take a day – a whole day! – to explore somewhere on foot. Maybe we lack the skills, or the confidence, or the kit, or maybe we’ve just lost interest.

But walking – or hiking, or sauntering if you prefer – is so inherently a human activity that I would argue it’s such an essential one that we are profoundly diminished without. For the first half a million years or so of human evolution we were hunter-gatherers and we only started to put down roots 11,000 years ago. We only shut ourselves into towns and cities and made our homes draught free very recently. As a species we are designed to be out there. I believe even our love for high places stems from an evolutionary need to be able to scan the landscape for threats, the feeling of contentment arising from vantage points where predators could be more easily spotted than in the valleys and forests. Inherently, we are more content and happy when we are outdoors. And who knows what might happen when we get out there?

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Enjoy taking a hike today and if you’ve enjoyed this post please let us know in the comments below!

Did you know that forests cover 31 percent of the global land area, the tallest tree in the world is called Hyperion or that spending time in a forest is good for our physical and mental wellbeing as it boosts our immune system, lowers blood pressure and promotes relaxation?

What was your favourite experience in a forest? Maybe you have seen an elk bathing in a lake in the middle of a forest, gone forest bathing during a summer day, heard a woodpecker or built a hut out of branches?

The theme of the 2021’s International Day of Forests is ‘Forest restoration: A path to recovery and well-being’ Please read more about it here:  https://www.un.org/en/observances/forests-and-trees-day 

We will be posting some images of our favourite forests on our Instagram account through the day so if you haven’t found us already please take a look and follow us there!