Wildwood Bushcraft

What Wildwood Bushcraft does

Wildwood Bushcraft is a privately held UK wilderness survival school founded in 2005 and headquartered in Lochailort, Scottish Highlands, with additional course locations in Sussex, England. The company delivers bushcraft, survival, navigation, foraging, and canoeing courses to individuals, families, schools/youth groups, and corporate teams, led primarily by chief instructor Leon Durbin, a qualified ecologist (PhD on otters in Scotland) and certified Mountain Leader. Course formats range from single-day introductions (e.g., £130 foraging day) to multi-day expeditions (e.g., £550 Loch Shiel canoe journey, £650 River Spey descent), with group sizes typically capped under 12 to minimize environmental impact.

The underlying "technology" is an instructor-led outdoor education methodology rather than a software or platform product; the curriculum combines traditional bushcraft skills (fire by friction, shelter building, foraging, navigation) with modern safety standards and an ecology-grounded teaching approach. Supporting assets include a blog, YouTube channel, BBC media feature, and social presence across Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and X/Twitter, used as content-led customer acquisition rather than paid media.

The business model is direct-to-consumer course fees, sold through a Wix-based website with an integrated online booking system and gift voucher sales, supplemented by private bookings, stag/hen events, and corporate away days. No external funding has been raised, there is no parent company or institutional ownership, and headcount sits at 1-10 employees. Geographic reach includes the UK as the core market and episodic international expeditions in partnership with overseas guides in Sweden, Canada, Namibia, Iceland, and New Zealand.

Name

Wildwood Bushcraft

Legal name

Wildwood Bushcraft

Website

https://wildwoodbushcraft.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wildwood Bushcraft is a UK wilderness survival school founded in 2005 in Lochailort, Scotland, delivering bushcraft, survival, navigation, foraging, and canoeing courses to individuals, families, schools, and corporate teams through direct-to-consumer bookings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Outdoor Survival Education

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Outdoor & Wilderness Education Schools (Field-Based Learning) (THAAAOAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Eco-Adventure Multi-Day Expeditions (Trekking, Hut-to-Hut, Pack Trips) (THAAAEAJ)

Keywords

• Wilderness survival courses
• Bushcraft training
• Outdoor survival education
• Foraging and nature courses
• Canoe expeditions

Headquarters

HQ city

Lochailort

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Course Fees: One-time fees for participation in scheduled wilderness survival and bushcraft courses ranging from single-day experiences to multi-day expeditions. Prices vary by course duration and complexity, from £130 for day courses to £650 for multi-day canoe expeditions. Additional revenue from gift vouchers, private bookings, and corporate team-building events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Wildwood Bushcraft runs instructor-led bushcraft, wilderness survival, navigation, wild food foraging, and canoe expedition courses set in the Scottish Highlands and Sussex. Offerings range from single-day introductions to multi-day expeditions, and are delivered to individuals, families, schools, youth groups, stag and hen parties, and corporate teambuilding clients.

Product overview

Wildwood Bushcraft is a wilderness survival school offering a portfolio of practical outdoor skills courses and expeditions. The company operates as a single unified service provider with courses organized by location (Scotland and England), duration (day, weekend, multi-day), and skill type. Core offerings include survival skills courses (Survival Day, Weekend, and 4-day Challenge), bushcraft fundamentals (Bushcraft Weekend, Fire by Friction), foraging courses (Wild Food Day, Coastal Foraging Day and Weekend), and canoe expeditions (Loch Shiel, River Spey). Add-on modules include private tailored sessions, Woodland Nature Days, stag/hen events, schools programs, and corporate teambuilding. International expeditions have included Sweden, Canada, Iceland, and Namibia. The business model centers on in-person instruction at wilderness locations rather than software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Survival Weekend Course A two-day wilderness survival training course teaching core survival skills in the Scottish Highlands, aimed at individuals and families seeking an immersive introduction to bushcraft and survival.
• Survival Challenge Course A four-day advanced survival challenge course delivering extended-duration wilderness survival training, designed for learners who want to deepen and apply skills over a multi-day Highland expedition format.
• Survival Day Course A single-day introductory survival course providing a compressed introduction to core wilderness survival techniques for beginners.
• Bushcraft Weekend Course A two-day bushcraft course focused on traditional bushcraft skills and woodland living, delivered in the Scottish Highlands.
• Fire by Friction Day Course A single-day specialist course teaching primitive fire-by-friction methods, suitable for beginners and hobbyists wanting focused instruction on a specific skill.
• Wild Food and Foraging Day A single-day wild food and foraging course teaching identification and sustainable harvesting of edible plants in Highland habitats.
• Coastal Survival Weekend Course A two-day coastal-themed survival course adapting core survival skills to coastal environments and conditions.
• Coastal Survival Day Course A single-day coastal survival course providing a short introduction to survival skills in coastal settings.
• Coastal Foraging Weekend Course A two-day coastal foraging course focused on identification and harvesting of edible coastal plants and seaweeds.
• Coastal Foraging Day Course A single-day coastal foraging course teaching identification of edible coastal species for beginners and enthusiasts.
• Navigation Courses Land navigation courses teaching map-and-compass and traditional navigation techniques suitable for hill walkers and outdoor learners.
• Private Bushcraft Days Bespoke private bushcraft day experiences tailored to a booked group, available as an alternative to scheduled public courses.
• Woodland Nature Day A single-day woodland nature experience introducing participants to woodland ecology and natural history.
• Bushcraft Stag and Hen Dos Private group bushcraft experiences designed for stag and hen party groups seeking a distinctive wilderness celebration activity.
• Private Canoe Trips Private canoe trips on Highland lochs and rivers, booked by groups wanting a tailored paddling experience.
• Mountain and Loch Adventure A multi-day mountain and loch adventure combining hill travel and water-based activity in the Scottish Highlands.
• Loch Shiel Canoe Expedition A multi-day open canoe expedition on Loch Shiel in the Scottish Highlands, providing extended wilderness paddling and camping instruction.
• River Spey Canoe Expedition A multi-day canoe expedition on the River Spey, providing an extended journey along one of Scotland's classic canoe rivers.
• Schools and Youth Groups Programs Structured outdoor learning programmes designed for school and youth-group bookings, providing curriculum-aligned bushcraft and wilderness education.
• Teambuilding Events Corporate teambuilding events using bushcraft and wilderness activities to support team development for organisations.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• International Expedition Partners (Canada, Sweden, Namibia, New Zealand)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWildwood Bushcraft has professional contacts and partners in Canada, Sweden, Namibia, and New Zealand to arrange overseas adventure experiences for clients seeking international bushcraft expeditions beyond UK operations.
• Sea Kayaking Partners (Scotland)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional contacts for sea-kayaking activities as part of stag-do events on the West Coast of Scotland.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Woodsmoke Bushcraft: UK-based bushcraft school delivering traditional woodland skills courses and weekend experiences for adults, families and corporate groups; comparable course format and target customer to Wildwood.
• Trueways Survival: UK wilderness and survival school delivering bushcraft and survival training courses for individuals and groups; comparable in service type and customer mix to Wildwood Bushcraft.
• Original Outdoors (Ray Mears): UK outdoor education provider associated with Ray Mears offering bushcraft, survival and wilderness courses; directly comparable curriculum and DTC course model to Wildwood Bushcraft.
• Frontier Bushcraft: UK bushcraft and survival training company running courses, expeditions and corporate events; closely comparable in business model (DTC course sales, group teambuilding) to Wildwood.
• Total Survival School: UK survival and bushcraft school offering wilderness courses and expeditions for individuals and groups; directly comparable service offering to Wildwood Bushcraft.
• Wildway Bushcraft: UK bushcraft and wilderness school offering hands-on bushcraft and survival courses for adults, families and groups, competing in the same niche market and customer segment as Wildwood Bushcraft.
• Bear Grylls Survival Academy: UK-based survival and bushcraft instruction provider offering multi-day courses, similar in core product to Wildwood's Survival Weekend and Challenge, but with celebrity-anchored brand and significantly larger scale and marketing reach.
• Bushcraft Adventures: UK bushcraft and survival course operator running weekend and day courses for beginners and groups; offers similar entry-level experience products to Wildwood's Bushcraft Weekend and Survival Day courses.
• Woodcraft School: UK bushcraft and traditional woodland skills school offering courses from introductory day sessions to multi-day experiences, directly comparable to Wildwood's core bushcraft and survival curriculum.

Broad incumbents

• Much Better Adventures: UK adventure-experience booking platform aggregating outdoor activity providers including bushcraft, foraging, and wilderness courses; a broader channel/aggregator that lists and distributes experiences comparable to Wildwood's offerings.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WildwoodUK
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/wildwoodbushcraft
• Facebookfacebook.com/Wildwood.Bushcraft
• Instagraminstagram.com/wildwood_bushcraft
• Pinterestpinterest.co.uk/WildwoodUK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wildwood-bushcraft

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wildwood Bushcraft