Keys to the Forest

I’ve always liked Les Davidson from Wildcrafts. Apart from being a nice bloke, skilled bushcrafter and all round good egg, he has now been given the keys to Hatfield Forest. Not that the latter would ever influence my choice of friends…(!)

Hatfield forest is 1,000 acres of ancient forest owned by the National Trust. Les now has permission to run courses on the land and, of course, I was there to assist. In fact, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away!

I spent most of Saturday walking and recce’ing around the part of the forest where we were camped, seeking out tracks and signs of the myriad of creatures that inhabit the forest, trying to build up a picture of where they feed, walk and sleep. I quickly found two badger sets and evidence of three types of deer.

We had to adapt out base camp technique slightly by building the fires on raised earth and wood platforms to be doubly sure to not leave a fire scar.

Even though we were on the quieter side of the forest, being a beautiful, sunny and warm weekend, we had a number of passers-by looking intently at the set up. After assuring those who dared come closer that this was sanctioned by the National Trust they started to warm to our ethos of not just providing survival skills but to teach an awareness of nature.

The guys on the course seemed to enjoy all the aspects of the course, but I think they were surprised that the hands-on approach to survival shelter building wasn’t as easy as it looks on the telly.

But they did very well and reported a comfortably night in their shelters, except for the barking of the ever inquisitive Muntjac deer.

Of course the highlight for me was simply having the privilege to stay in the forest, feel its ambience, walk along the wide rides, and watch the bountiful wildlife. Hopefully, I’ll have many more opportunities to write about this wonderful place.

Thanks for the visit.