Welcome to RedOak Bushcrafts
Derbyshire / Peak District Bushcraft & Wilderness Skill Courses
Do you feel it’s time to escape the hi tech world we live in and step back a little, back to basics, back to connect with your surroundings, back to what you perhaps used to do when you were a kid?
In that case you’re in exactly the same place I was in 2006 when I quit my IT job and turned to outdoor education. However you don’t need to be as drastic as that, you maybe just need to remind yourself of what’s out there and what you can do.
It’s not just about learning skills, it’s about clearing your head and maybe taking a different approach. Far too often we are forced to put our heads down and get the job done. Sometimes you need to stop and take stock. The woodland environment is the perfect place to do this. If you can do this, learn a new skill or two and have fun you will notice the benefits! Or maybe you want to drag your kids away from screen time and introduce them to some new skills as a family unit, creating fantastic family memories.
RedOakBushcrafts has been in my head for too long so now we are live and ready to meet you.
We are a family run business, below you will find more information about us. We may need occasionally to involve other instructors, if we do then rest assured that we will only use people we are 100% confident with in their skills and knowledge.
Meet the Team
Peter Morton
So in 2006 I quit my IT job and set off in a new direction, it wasn’t rocket science it was the only other thing I had qualifications in having been involved in the outdoors since becoming a guide at the age of 5 (long story, will tell you about it when we meet) and working my way through the Peak Park Ranger Service and Mountain Rescue.
I love my office window now – However Bushcraft and wilderness skills are my passion and combining them with a canoe trip makes it even better!
I am now qualified to deliver the following and regularly work for a number of centres/providers in the Peak District as a freelance instructor, frequently heading up courses for them.
Qualifications:
Bushcraft for Practitioners Course
Bushcraft and Wilderness Skills Mentoring Course
IOL Bushcraft Competency Award & Certificate Assessor
UK Cyber Tracker Level II
Leave No Trace Trainer
MLTA SPA Climbing
MLTA Summer Mountain Leader
MLTA Winter Mountain Leader Trained
BC/UKCC L2 Instructor
BC 4* Canoe Award
BC White Water Safety & Rescue
SMBLA Trail Cycle Leader
BCA LCMLA L1 Cave/Mine Leader
BCA LCMLA L2 Cave/Mine Leader Trained
First Aid Qualified
MHFA England First Aid
Enhanced DBS
Nichola Morton
My office window used to be in the centre of Sheffield!
Since the kids came along I have taken time out to bring them up and from that got involved with their schools. Here I found I had a passion for educating children, particularly in an outdoor environment.
I am now a teaching assistant in a local primary school where I also deliver Forest Schools which is my real passion, using the outdoors to help them grow in confidence in their surroundings as well as educating them.
I work, when I can, for a local outdoor centre and have also lectured on Forest Schools at Derby University.
Qualifications:
Level 3 Forest School Leader
NVQ Level 3 Early Years Care and Education
First Aid Qualified
Youth MHFA First Aid
Enhanced DBS
Our Woodland
Towards the end of 2019 we were fortunate to agree the use of a woodland owned by Forestry England. The end of 2019 and start of 2020 saw a flurry of activity getting the site ready for use, building a compost toilet and laying out the main camp area.
We have also created a sanitation station to ensure everyone can be as hygienic as possible, particularly in the current climate. While we try to work to a leave no trace ethic it was felt that those two areas would need to be created to provide a base and reduce human impact on the rest of the site.
The woodland we use is one of seven woodlands that create Forestry England's Matlock Forest lying in the Dark Peak Natural Area just outside the Peak District National Park. It consists of approximately 40% broadleaved trees, 40% coniferous trees and the remaining areas are felled or open spaces. This woodland has a roadside broadleaf belt made up of Silver birch, Red oak and beech to break up the conifer edges and soften the woodlands outer appearance. It has also recently been planted with English oak, Western hemlock and Sitka spruce to add more variety to the tree species found here.
Timber here is harvested using sustainable silvicultural systems based on the natural lifecycle of trees. Most of the harvested timber is softwood which produces fencing materials or goes into the building market where chipped wood is manufactured into boards used for flooring, roofing, partitions or flat-pack furniture. Softwood comes from coniferous trees such as pine, fir, spruce and larch. Hardwoods tend to be denser than softwoods and are used to supply UK markets for construction and wood fuel. Hardwoods come from broadleaved trees such as oak, ash and beech. You can find out more about how Forestry England manage the nation's forests here: forestryengland.uk/forests-lifecycle
Our woodland is also home to a number of different bird species and in 2024 a pair of Buzzards successfully reared and fledged a chick. Red and Roe deer frequently pass through as do fox and badger.
