What will you learn and experience?
Led by specialist instructors like Adam Logan, Sarah Day, Jamie Dakota, and Thijmen Apswoude the Living With Nature course immerses you in the ancient arts of survival.
What does the year look like?
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The Fundamentals; the first two months lay the foundation.
20-22nd March and 17-19th April 2026
Venue: Oxfordshire
You will learn, practice, make and do….
Tools: knife, saw, crook knife
Tools maintenance and sharpening
Tool safety and basic carving techniques
Carving project
Natural First Aid
How to sleep outdoors in the cold
Fire, natural tinder, selecting firewood.
Ancient fire.
Fire etiquette and fire lays
Fire by Friction; the bow drill
Natural shelters and making beds
Roe deer; skinning and deboning
Making jerky
Baking bread on the campfire
Using all parts of a deer; tendons, bones, hides and hooves
Useful knots and tarp set-ups
How to find and purify water
Coping with food deprivation
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Deepening the Knowledge; months 3 + 4
15-17th May and 19-21st June 2026
Venue: Oxfordshire
Fish and fishing
Passive and active fishing methods
Making a net
Carving your own netting needle
Being un-observed and seeing in Nature
Stalking and walking silently
Tree identification, use and understanding
Natural glue and dry distillation
Willow wand fish trap weaving
Tanning buckskin for clothing. Part 1
Preparing and storing deer skins
Seeing the forest in a ‘bushcraft’ way.
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Storage, preserving and carrying things; months 5 + 6
17-19th July and 21-23rd August 2026
Venue: Harewood
Construct a travel basket
Roots for binding and sewing
Cordage from natural plants and bark
Make an Ojibway bark container
Mental tools
Alone in Nature
Personal strength and creative being
Making and firing clay pots
Preserving food
Making pemmican
Creating light with fat lamps
Natural wicks
The wonder of wool
Felt your own boots
How to felt your blanket
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Animals, Fish, Behaviour, Tracking; month 7 + 8
18-20th September and 16-18th October 2026
Venue Oxfordshire
Making a bone barb fishing hook
Learning where, what and how to fish
Horsehair fishing lines
Tracking and foot morphology
Working with bone and antlers
Fish spear from bone
Plants for medicinal and edible use
Fasting weekend
Dawn and night-time trailing
Ancient ritual
Past-time crafts
Discovering who you are
Preparing for Expedition
Craft week; 4 day-long specialist immersion in a topic of your choice.
13th-16th October 2025
12-15th October 2026
Choose from;
Bow building and arrow making
Mukluks boots; buckskin outer boots to cover felted boots
Leister spear and other harpoons
Tanning buckskin
Traditional Saami Pouch
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Advanced Tanning and Carving; month 9 + 10
20-22nd November 2026 and 18-20th December 2026
Venue Oxfordshire
In depth lessons on tanning:
Bark Tanning
Fish skin leather
Buckskin for clothing Part 2
Building a ‘smoker’
Smoking tanned hides
Raw hide
Tanning bladders for water containers
Learning to sew leather
Saami pouch
Water purification
Bone needles
Axe use and practice
Axe safety
Felling and limbing trees techniques
Carving a ‘kuksa’ bowl
Nightwatch
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Graduates of the course have are invited to join a two week expedition to Sweden in September the following year, putting your newly acquired skills and handcrafted equipment to the test.
The Expedition is optional, but a much looked forward to outlet for attendees of the Course to test their own clothing, equipment and skills acquired over The Year.
For the Expedition we will take you deep into the beauty and bounty of the Swedish Wilderness. The Expedition offers you a chance to travel back in time with your ‘Tribe’ and really experience what life was like as a Hunter/Gatherer. You will live as your ancestors did, hunting and gathering, fishing, making shelter, picking berries and mushrooms, making and keeping fire. You can only take, wear and use the things you have made yourself; this makes the expedition exclusively available only to your fellow course-mates and you, and provides a great motivation to finish your projects from the course.
In your beautiful handmade clothing, with your travel basket on your back, and your knife by your side, you will gather all you need from Nature during these 10 days. It is an experience with depth and reality like no other. The whole Year Course leads in preparation towards this moment and you are well prepared for this totally unique and challenging opportunity to live as close to Nature as possible!
The expedition is free although additional travel costs to Sweden apply.
The Expedition is run during the first two weeks of September and is delivery near Torsby, Sweden.
Our instructors have years of experience of 'living by nature'. We are convinced that in order to teach other people something, your own knowledge and skills must be much higher than the level at which you teach. After completing your Year Course you will have so much knowledge and experience that "Living by Nature" will be in your blood also, and you will have surpassed the ‘basic skills’ by far.
For many of the subjects we are going to cover, more is needed than just hearing the theory and doing something once. Every month you will be asked to complete some homework, either to finish a project that we have started, or to prepare something for the following weekend. It takes a lot of training and practice to really master the skills. You have to invest time, and when you do, it infuses your life with self-confidence, and the freedom to call all of Nature your home. Life in Nature requires experience. Practice makes art. That is why this course takes a year; to deeply imbue and consolidate your skills and knowledge.
You will be taught many additional aspects, particularly concerning ancestral knowledge, traditional ways of ‘being’, in-depth philosophies and ways of ‘connecting’ to Nature. We call these ‘the mental tools’. At Living by Nature, we believe that truly Natural grounded skills need to be embraced with your hands as well as in your mind.
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£3995 per person
We understand this is a high ticket price, and so can become one of those bucket list ideas that never happens for some people. We are fully committed to making this happen for you, as so there are multi payment options available if you want to book a place and need to spread the payment:
OPTION ONE:
You can secure your place with a 10% deposit and pay the rest 10 weeks prior to the course start date. Simply add the course to your basket, and use the code YEARCOURSE at checkout
OPTION 2:
You can secure your place with a 10% deposit as above; and pay the balance in three instalments across the year, with £1198.50 due in March, August, and November
OPTION 3:
You can secure your place with a 10% deposit and pay in monthly instalments starting one March 1st and ending on November November 1st at £359.55 per month.
We’re always flexible and happy to help:
Alternatively you can contact the team and discuss any options which may work for you in a friendly and relaxed way with no obligation, he’s always up for a chat.
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You’ll visit several venues over the course of the year, taking in beautiful ancient woodlands and riverside views. Where each specific is hosted will depend the specific needs of the course.
The course is predominantly run from a stunning private woodland in Oxfordshire near Upper Basildon; with a couple of the modules delivered from a peaceful ancient woodland hidden in Harewood Estate near Harrogate.
For each venue there is the option to arrive on the Thursday evening and camp in the woods for each module. In this way if you’re travelling far to attend you be able to arrive at your leisure on Thursdays and be on site for the course starting Fridays.
Other Details:
This Living by Nature course is brought to the UK for first time!
10am Fridays - 4pm Sundays (exact finish times can vary depending on course progression).
There is the option at travel to the venue on the Thursday evening ahead of each module and camp in the woods, to help those travelling far for the course.
Please note the terms and conditions before you book
Each years intake is capped at 14 guests to ensure we create a subtle atmosphere in the woods, and you get a very high interaction time with the instructors.
A full kit list is given out on booking, but you won't need much more than a sleeping bag and warm clothing.
This course is fully catered starting with an evening meal on the Friday, and finishing with lunch on Sunday. Please inform us of any dietary requirements, we're happy to cater to any needs.
Due the involved nature of this course, we don't feel its suitable to under 18 year olds (please ask if you have any questions)
Run in several locations over the year to best suit the specific needs of the course, mostly from a stunning private woodland in Oxfordshire near Upper Basildon with a couple of the modules delivered from Harewood Estate in the north. We'll send you exact directions with the booking pack.
The Expedition to Sweden the following year is covered in the course price, you will however need to purchase your own flights and travel costs in addition to the course price. This expedition is exclusively available to your fellows from the annual course intake, and you will be expected to come kitted out in your own handmade equipment!
Lead Instructor: Adam Logan Lead Instructor: Sarah Day Lead Instructor: Jamie Dakota Guest Instructor for special weekends: Thijmen Apswoude