About the Founder
As well as being experienced in bushcraft in the UK, Wendy Paton has led 21 expeditions worldwide. During these trips she has foraged for wild rhubarb in Mongolia; eaten live ants in Ecuador; gone mud fishing in Vietnam; tracked with the Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana; caught and eaten frogs for breakfast in Laos; and picked enough wild blueberries in Ecuador to turn herself blue. These experiences bring real depth of knowledge to the bushcraft and survival skills taught by London Bushcraft.
Wendy’s interest in bushcraft started as a young child. She grew up in Australia and has always been fascinated by the skills and knowledge that allowed indigenous Australians to survive for thousands of years off the land. She loves returning to her home country regularly to see family and friends and having time for her favourite pastime; snorkelling and diving for shellfish.
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She believes that bushcraft is very much needed in a society that has in some ways drifted away from its ancestral and natural roots. It provides people with an opportunity to connect with the world around them more fully - and sometimes also a part of themselves they have never come into contact with before.
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Wendy is supported by a large and experienced team with a deep knowledge of bushcraft and working with groups.
About the Team
BORIS
Boris Taylor has had a keen interest in all things outdoors since childhood and his service within the Royal Air Force has provided him with excellent opportunities. He has participated in numerous survival exercises as an instructor and student mentor to Service personnel undertaking survival training in remote training areas across the UK. Boris has undertaken the military Permissive Land training course in Cornwall, the Arctic Cold Weather Survival course in Bodo, Norway and a number of survival exercises in Kenya. He is an enthusiastic and compassionate with excellent interpersonal and team building skills. He believes that bushcraft activities provide the ideal distraction from the pressures of our busy working lives and provides the ideal opportunity to learn and apply forgotten skills.
STACEY
Stacey has been a lifelong nature boy and has been into all things bushcraft and outdoor living since he can remember. He has been practicing bushcraft professionally and training Instructors since 2009. After becoming homeless following his service as a British Soldier in the mid 1990's, an unknown old gentleman gave him a book on foraging. It was this random act of kindness which eventually steered him towards a vocation as a Bushcraft, Survival and Wilderness Living Instructor and Mentor. Foraging and backwoods medicine are still his passion to this day. He believes that bushcraft has and will always will give him an immense amount of pleasure and a huge sense of self-reliance. This is even more apparent in these trouble and testing times of the Global Covid-19 Pandemic. He firmly believes and has been saying it for years, that knowledge is the new currency.
PAUL
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Paul has been practising bushcraft for more than 15 years. After travelling extensively around Asia and observing how efficiently but simply people lived in various environments and studying the methods they practiced he began to realise that we over complicate many things at home and rely too much on 'stuff'. So his aim upon returning was to gain knowledge about his surroundings and be less reliant on kit. The areas of bushcraft he is particularly passionate about is primitive craft, woodland cookery and foraging with an emphasis on herbal medicine. In our modern lives he believes that bushcraft can offer us today a way to destress and live in 'the now' rather than be pre-occupied worrying about the past, which we cannot change or the future which we cannot truly predict. It also enriches our lives and gives a new appreciation of our green spaces when you start to understand how they work and what bounty surrounds us in the English countryside.
JAMES
James spent a lot of time in the forest in his teens. After following a few career paths, wearing suits etc... he came back to being in the woods and knew this was how he wanted to support people which he has been doing for the past 6 years. Initially he just wanted to learn survival skills for himself but this has progressed into using nature and bushcraft to work with people therapeutically to heal and move forwards joyfully in their lives. What he loves about bushcraft is that there's always more to learn and experience. He loves the infinite variety of things to do including fire lighting, foraging and cooking but most of all he loves just being outdoors, especially in wet and windy weather! Seeing people create their first ember through friction and their excitement never fails to bring a smile to his face. He believes bushcraft it's a real leveller for people. It's of no significance your background, job, bank balance, gender, story or ability, one's true nature can be explored and there's real joy in the freedom of letting go of the attachments of 'modern life' and having fun. He is passionate about continuing and honouring traditions which helped us to evolve to where we are.