Our Activities & Courses
Welcome to...
Big Hat Bushcamp
The ultimate bushcraft experience for the whole family.
WHAT BIG HAT IS ALL ABOUT
The aim of Big Hat Bushcamp is to give children and adults the ultimate bushcraft experience and leave all who visit the Bushcamp with the knowledge and confidence to safely enjoy the outdoors.
All of our activities are designed to promote personal development, teamwork and leadership, as well as inspire an enduring passion for fresh air and the great outdoors.
Through activities such as matchless firelighting, campfire cooking, shelter building, archery, navigation, wilderness first aid and traditional bushcraft skills, groups at Big Hat Bushcamp discover for themselves how to leave behind the clamour of the 21st century.
Amidst the beautiful woodlands of historic Runnymede in North Surrey, and Godstone in East Surrey, we run holiday and weekend courses, year round, for children, family groups and private parties. For those who wish to immerse themselves in the outdoors, an overnight stay is always an option.
If you have any more questions or want to find out more information about us and what we do, you can always contact us here.
COVID-19 Update
Big Hat Bushcamp Reopening, 29th March 2021
We are very please to announce that all of our courses will resume from 29th March.
There are still a few vacancies for PARTIES over the weekends of April, and we are now taking names (up to 15 spaces) for the EASTER KIDS' CLUB.
Large school groups can resume from 29th March, and large family groups from 21st June (don't worry - our Family Bushcraft Weekends for small family groups resume on 24th April).
OUR INSTRUCTORs
Big Hat courses are run by CRB/ DBS certified and 1st Aid trained instructors with a wealth of experience, from mountain leading and bushcraft instruction, to Military jungle training and youth coaching in outdoor pursuits.
Chief Instructor, Ian, is a former Captain of the British Army and has trained and led soldiers and officer cadets across mountains, jungles, bushland, desert and forest, as well as working as a primary school teacher in the Peruvian Andes and a children’s author and bushcraft instructor here in the UK.
Ashley, lead instructor at our Godstone site, picked up her passion for the great outdoors and her skill-set of survival and bushcraft techniques, serving with Aberdeen Universities OTC, while her instructional talents come from her profession as a science teacher.
As a former British Army jungle instructor, Dave is no stranger to the great outdoors. When not at the Bushcamp, he is likely to be found in the hills indulging his passion for mountaineering.
Having previously spent 3 months living in the woods as a bushcraft instructor, Adam is man who lives to be out and active in nature. When he isn’t starting fires and whittling wood, he teaches people how to swim and get fit.
Dave is another team member to have honed his outdoor skills as an instructor with Aberdeen OTC. When he's not tending the fires at Big Hat, he's working in Edinburgh or dreaming up backpacking trips in the Scottish Highlands.
Coming from a therapeutic background, Shane brings to his bushcraft sessions extensive experience working with young people. He has played, slept, created art, mentored and facilitated in the woods, bringing his skills to schools, families, local authorities, woodland communities and bushcraft centres. If he is not whittling spoons he will tell you a story, if you ask, as he is also a trained Oral Storyteller.
