Surrey Homes | SH18 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

The
Green
Goddess
Penny Kemp
on bushcraft
and learning to
live with and
understand
nature
Just Fascias
Kent and Surrey’s premiere installers of
replacement fascias, soffits, cladding, bargeboards,
guttering and downpipes in UPVC.
When I think of Bushcraft skills, my mind automatically
turns to the likes of Bear Grylls pushing celebrities
to breaking point on a mission to outwit nature and
survive in an artificial situation, eating all manner of unsavoury
things. Or the more absurd Ant and Dec I’m a Celebrity – Get me
Out of Here!, where celebrities are made to do the weirdest trials in
order to gain votes from viewers. I can’t make up my mind whether
they are willing victims or just get paid enormous amounts of money
(up to half a million pounds, we are told) to endure bush-tucker
trials where they are seen to eat delicacies such as kangaroo testicles
or cockroaches. Another trial involved sitting in a glass tank full of
rats whilst another celebrity had forty pythons writhing over her.
So it is surprising to learn that here in Kent, in the small village
of Egerton, hundreds of people gather each May bank holiday to
pitch a tent and practise and share their ‘bushcraft’ skills. But it is
not like Bear Grylls and Ant and Dec programmes, it is learning
to live with and understand nature. According to Steve Kirk,
editor of The Bushcraft Magazine and expert wild-food forager:
“Bushcraft is a knowledge of the wild and skill in its ways. In
other words, the sort of things you would need to know if you
love to spend long periods of time outdoors.” He likens it to the
Scouts, Guides and Woodcraft Folk, who learn how to make
fires, track animals, improvise and be resourceful outdoors.
Sadly, I never got to be a Guide as I was expelled from
the Brownies for ‘behaviour unbecoming to a Brownie’.
Suffice to say I was a little bit too much of a tom-boy for
the brown-dressed brigade but my daughter was a very wellbehaved
Brownie and gathered many badges, which stood
her in good stead for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Steve Kirk emphasises that the May weekend is not aimed at hardcore
survivalists but is a family occasion with activities for everyone,
including the young, with evening storytelling and
star-gazing. A team of experienced instructors will teach you how
to carve a wooden spoon, make a fire using just friction, source
free food on a foraging expedition and live in harmony with nature.
As Steve says, “in a society that is being de-skilled,
we are keeping traditional knowledge alive and we
want to share it with as many people as we can”.
If you want to find out more about the bushcraft weekend,
contact Steve at steve@bushcraft-magazine.co.uk or call 01233
756515 or visit the website www.bushcraft-magazine.co.uk
Prices start at £75 for the weekend. Treading lightly on
this beautiful planet can never be a bad thing.
Call for a free quotation 01233 714 115
Freephone 0800 048 8872
Mobile 07801 977 921
www.justfascias.com
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