What’s it about?
This 5 day bushcraft course is our most exhaustive course in terms of both breadth and depth of learning. However, you don’t need any previous experience to attend as we start from the basics and progress throughout the 5 days.
Your 5 day bushcraft course is focused on 4 key skills of bushcraft and woodland living – fire, shelter, food and water. But as with all of our bushcraft courses, the skills you’ll learn are transferable and are useful to campers, canoeists, hikers, those that enjoy wild camping and many other outdoor activities.
On top of this you’ll also get to work on other aspects of bushcraft, including craft and foraging, season depending.
This 5 day bushcraft course is definitely one of our favourites as it allows you to immerse yourself fully in the woodland and really become a part of it. The emphasis is on ensuring that you have plenty of opportunity to practice the skills that we show you so that as you progress through the 5 days you become more proficient and independent. It also gives you time to really get to know us and your fellow students. We’ve had previous participants tell us that the course is life affirming and even life changing, just check out all the reviews below.
What will I do on a 5 day bushcraft course?
On our 5 day bushcraft course you’ll be shown a wide range of skills followed by ample opportunity to practice them. And that’s the key, you need to be able to do these things yourself and the only way for that to happen is for you to do them!
You will:
- Use a knife, folding saw and bow saw to make a wedge, cut a log from standing dead wood, split the log and make feather sticks,
- Spend plenty of time creating a flame using chemical, solar, compression and electrical means,
- Work as part of a team to create fire by friction,
- Make char cloth, create an ember with it and blow the ember into flame,
- Identify, gather and prepare tinders from outer barks, inner barks, fungi and downy flower heads,
- Make your own fire from materials sourced locally using a fire steel,
- Understand various fire lays and their uses,
- Prune trees so as they can ‘heal’ afterwards,
- Carve simple implements such as a spatula, honey spreader and spoon,
- Put up a hammock and tarp using 3 simple knots that can be tied and untied wearing gloves (if you’d like to sleep in a hammock, you can),
- Adapt a tarp to different configurations to meet different conditions and environments,
- Know when, where and how to build a debris shelter,
- Identify and locate water supplies,
- Make your own improvised water filter,
- Make a pot hanger to boil water and cook over,
- Make a simple bow from hazel,
- Use bark to make a container,
- Sharpen your knife so that it will easily slice through a sheet of paper,
- Make cordage from nettles, brambles and chestnut bark, depending on the time of year,
- Forage for wild foods and make wild herb bannock,
- Learn a variety of back country cooking techniques using a pit oven, dutch oven, grills and embers,
- Try various woodland teas from plants and herbs you collect,
- Finish it all off by collecting materials to light a fire without using matches, lighters or a fire steel and boil water using your pot hanger.
Book now
You can see our complete course schedule here.
Other information
Location: Westwell, Kent
Duration: 5 days
Start: 9am Wednesday
End: 4pm Sunday
Course size: Maximum of 8
Catering: Fully catered
Note: There’s a short walk from the meeting point to the camp. We’ll transport your bags in our 4×4.
You might also find these Frequently Asked Questions useful.
What our customers say
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Best course I ever did the 5 day Bushcraft course
Hoping to book the IOL course for next year
Would highly recommend this group to everyone
I can highly recommend this 5-day bushcraft course. We covered so much content in the five days, which absolutely flew by. Gary and Pete were great instructors and Nicola's food was a real treat. As a qualified Forest School Leader, this course provided the perfect CPD opportunity and I will now look forward to attending additional courses in the future.
I have now completed several different courses with Gary and Nicola and never been anything less than 100% satisfied with the courses. Each one I attend, I am drawn a little further into the natural world that the Jack Raven team are such good ambassadors for. This five day course is paced and delivered to allow a complete novice with no outdoors experience, to feel at home in the forest and have the confidence to come back into that environment again. For those who have already completed the two day course with Jack Raven there is still so much to learn and discover on this course.. As Stewart has mentioned in his review, the hospitality was fantastic and the food and company excellent. I also aim to book another course in the near future. I would like to thank Pete, for his excellent knife sharpening tuition as well as Willow the dog for her welcome presence.
I have no hesitation in recommending this five day course.
Came home Sunday evening from the 5 day bushcraft course and couldn't stop talking about it, my wife and daughters must have had earache, thank you Gary, Peter and Nicola for an excellent experience, the level of skill and knowledge these guys have is excellent, what I learned on this course will not only help me on my future trekking holidays but has opened my eyes to a whole new outlook on nature. I won't rattle on about what I achieved on the course but I definitely recommend you try it for yourself, suffice to say, I will be booking another course at some point in the future.
Excellent learning opportunity if you already have general practical skills. The quality of the training is excellent, easy to follow but you have to listen and follow to get the best out of it. Don’t be thinking it’s a jolly, the other keen learners will not be happy if you don’t listen and absorb. You need to let go of outside life and throw yourself in to it.
The equipment and surroundings are excellent, you are safe and well fed/hydrated
You will be shown how to keep safe, and constantly reminded if you’re not. Very important you listen and follow the rules especially with sharp tools/knives etc
I could have stayed another week easily, opened my eyes to what’s on our doorstop, how to relax and realise what can and must be done if we’re to save our planet, and survive if the zombies come
You do it all, foraging, building, fires in damp with just natural gathered tinders, Knifework, axework, carving, tree/plant work to see what you can do or eat with it, cordage, pot hangers, finding and purifying water, debris shelter, tinders, chopping and felling, batoning, knots, Tarps and much more
Have booked more courses off the back of this one
Bloody loved it and can’t see why anyone else wouldn’t
Thanks to Gary, Pete and Nicola
See you all soon