About Woodlore

In the beginning...

Woodlore, The School of Wilderness Bushcraft, was founded in 1983 by the British Bushcraft expert Ray Mears. Paving the way for Bushcraft courses in the UK, Woodlore began with Ray teaching small groups of students the knowledge and techniques that he had spent most of his early life honing. With Ray’s ambition and perserverance, Woodlore has since grown into a world-renowned and highly respected school, offering in-depth courses on a wide range of bushcraft and survival subjects.

Today, Woodlore continues to advance, leading the field which it pioneered. A small team of passionate and dedicated professionals work hard to provide the highest standard of tuition and leadership in wilderness bushcraft, whilst striving to extend our sum knowledge and understanding of this wonderful subject.

In addition to Bushcraft training, Woodlore has evolved to also provide some of the finest outdoor clothing and camping equipment, carefully selected on the basis of our extensive experience. This move was not a commercial choice, but arose after a student attended one of our Arctic expeditions having been mis-sold a summer sleeping bag instead of an arctic bag, and represents our philosophy of making the wilderness experience accessible safely to all.

25 Years of Bushcraft

In 2008, Woodlore celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Here’s what founder Ray Mears had to say on this momentous occasion:

Twenty five years. Yikes, that's a quarter of a century! Back in 1983 when Woodlore was in its infancy, I never would have believed I'd be sitting here writing these words. Back then nobody in the UK knew what I meant by the term “wilderness bushcraft”. Sure there were a couple of survival schools, and pretty good ones at that, but there was no one offering the more in-depth nature based knowledge of bushcraft. For me, learning how to live with nature had been a passion from early childhood but it was a difficult subject to explore back in those days. Before the internet research involved wearing out shoe leather in museums and blagging entrance to academic libraries before practising skills in quiet corners of the countryside. But in some strange way those obstacles were the spur to my study. One thing is certain though, I never thought I would end up teaching the subject. It is funny how things work out. It was a pignut root that really kicked Woodlore into gear as a company but that is another story...

Over the past twenty five years I have had the excitement of steering Woodlore on a voyage of discovery literally around the world running courses in some of our planets remotest corners, living alongside some of the oldest cultures and tracking some of the most dangerous and fascinating wildlife. Guiding my hand on the helm are several principles; a commitment to honest professionalism, willingness to take the difficult path, reliability, and the belief that humour can dispel adversity.

As Woodlore celebrates its first quarter century we are very much looking to the future with new courses, equipment and projects that have long been in planning. I want also to extend my thanks to all of the many students, 'Woodloreans', who have sat around our campfire over the past twenty five years. Your passion, enthusiasm and willingness to push beyond known boundaries has been the greatest inspiration and continues to work its magic today on a new generation of instructors.

Best wishes,

Ray Mears,
Founder of Woodlore

Wilderness Bushcraft

It is our firm belief that Wilderness Bushcraft has something of value for everyone; hopefully this is reflected in our programme of educational courses that has evolved over the twenty five years we have been operating. At Woodlore, course development is a never-ending process as we endeavour to bring the subject to a wider range of student.

Wilderness Bushcraft encourages us to a much greater cultural tolerance and to notice more keenly our effect upon the world. We believe that this ancient outdoor knowledge is most important to our futures.

As realists, we do not hold to any restraining dogma, but accept the arrival of new technologies while tempering their use with more ancient wisdom. After all, who is the better prepared hiker - the one with the global positioning navigation device or the hiker who can use the new equipment but can also rely on their ability to read natures signs for direction? In truth, the older skills enhance the most up-to-date while the newer skills simply validate the knowhow of our ancestors.

As you will soon realise, bushcraft is the art of the possible.