Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival Instructors
Woodsmoke has a team of respected bushcraft instructors and specialist wilderness guides, who are both friendly and highly professional. They strive to create an environment where you can learn, expand your horizons, and can get the most from your time with us.
Our highly trained instructors are all are exceptionally experienced, hand picked for their broad skill-base and particular expertise in their chosen subjects.
"Ben McNutt and Lisa Fenton
are two of the most genuine people I have ever met, both in how they teach their
students and how they carry themselves - very professional, very sincere and very
approachable". P. Moore, Aboriginal course, Oct 2008
Ben McNutt spent his early years exploring the wilds of Donegal around his home, on the North West coast of Ireland. After
a formal education in fine art he returned to his love of wild places,
spending five years studying and training under the expert guidance of
Ray Mears. Ben worked as part of Ray Mears' team, within his company
‘Woodlore’ for four years, and gained full instructor status in the
year 2000. Ben combined his skills in art, with his passion for
bushcraft when he was invited by Ray Mears to illustrate his best
selling book - 'Bushcraft'. Ben has been invited to lecture to various
audiences, including a short talk for the ‘Explore’ audience at the
Royal Geographical Society. His ardour for bushcraft and wilderness
skills is clear, and his teaching style can only be described as
infectious.
Lisa Fenton has a passion for travel and adventure, her
first independent travel experience was an intrepid three-month journey through
Northern India, when she was just eighteen. Since then, her wanderlust
and interest in native survival skills has taken her to the deserts of
Utah, deep into the Malaysian jungles of Kelanatan, through Laos, and
to remote regions of Thailand, learning about life in the jungle. Lisa
began her formal bushcraft/survival training in 1998. The following
year she joined Ray Mears company 'Woodlore' as an assistant
instructor, where she and Ben worked for the following four years.
Currently combining Woodsmoke with study, Lisa is presently undertaking
a Masters degree in Ethnobotany; the relationship between people and
their use of plants. Ethnobotany often relates more specifically to
indigenous plant use: for food, medicine, shelter and clothing and so
on. Skilled and capable, Lisa adds enthusiasm, knowledge and experience
to the Woodsmoke team.
Ben and Lisa have worked together teaching bushcraft, survival and wilderness skills for almost ten years, and
together they founded Woodsmoke in 2002. Competent and experienced in
many aspects of expedition life, they are both qualified Summer
Mountain Leaders, and work as Expedition leaders, often in remote areas
of the globe. Working closely with field scientists, they have led
conservation expeditions tracking wolves, lynx and brown bear in the
freezing winter conditions
of the Polish Carpathian Mountains. In 2003 they spent 3 months working
closely with scientists and San Bushman trackers monitoring cheetahs,
leopards and their related prey species, on the fringe of the Kalahari
Desert in Namibia. Since then Lisa and Ben have visited Namibia many
times, also spending time off the beaten track with the Himba people of
the Kaokaveld. In addition, during 2005 they planned and facilitated an
intrepid adventure race deep in the Belizean jungle. Ben and Lisa are
both qualified and experienced in Wilderness first aid, and off-road
4x4 driving. 
Steve Smith has been instructing for Woodsmoke since its inception. His
knowledge of Woodland, River, Lakeland and Mountains alike, reflect his
lifelong love of the outdoors. Steve studied ‘Outdoor Education’ at
Bicton College, and then went on to lead outdoor activities, at various
centres, in and around the United Kingdom. Now, he combines wilderness
bushcraft with his other big passion - Open Canoeing. Steve has been an
instructor of canoe-craft for many years and builds his own
beautiful Cedar Strip Canoe’s, based on American Indian designs. Steve
has successfully led a challenging, two-month open canoe expedition
down the Orange River in South Africa, a three-month expedition around
the north east coast of North Island New Zealand, and is now embarking
on a 2-month canoe trip across Lake Malawi, followed by an excursion
down part of the Okavango River. All these expeditions are completed in
‘stitch and tape’ canoes that Steve makes himself in country, from
plywood. While continuing to instruct and lead courses for Woodsmoke,
Steve also runs his own venture - Open River Canoe Adventures (ORCA),
and leads canoe courses in conjunction with Woodsmoke (Lakelander &
Voyageur Courses).
Matt Upson joined the team in 2005, having
begun his formal bushcraft studies with Woodsmoke in 2002. Following 3
years of full time training and study Matt achieved his instructor’s
knife in 2007. Matt is an integral part of the Woodsmoke team. He has
an extensive knowledge of the many and diverse aspects of bushcraft,
survival and the natural world. The
interdisciplinary facets of wilderness living skills suit Matt’s thirst
for learning. He is a resourceful leader and a capable woodsman, with
an inherent ability to inspire and share his skills. An accomplished
tool-smith and green woodworker, Matt spends most of his year outdoors,
teaching bushcraft or honing his skills; making woodland crafts. Matt
has spent time hiking in the mountains of Norway and exploring the
jungles of the Solomon Islands, where he spent months paddling the
lagoons, fishing and experiencing the local way of life.
Steven Hanton joined Woodsmoke in early 2007 and soon become firmly ensconced as a full time part of the Woodsmoke instructional team.
Following a childhood of exploring the outdoors, bushcraft quickly
became Steven's passion, attending his first course in 2001. Keen to
gain a background in the more formal and academic aspects of outdoor
education, he completed a degree in outdoor education at Edinburgh
University, meanwhile continuing in the pursuit of bushcraft knowledge
and experience. His interests have led him on expeditions to remote
areas of 
Alaska and Norway, as well as months spent on tracking
conservation projects in the North Maine Woods; where he developed an affinity and ability for passing on his knowledge. A
lover of books, Steve is inspired by tales of the backwoods.
Accomplished in wilderness skills and bushcraft, he is an ardent
naturalist. In addition Steven is a talented and knowledgeable botany
enthusiast and wildlife tracker. He insists that those who enjoy the
great outdoors should work hard to develop a deeper understanding of
the creatures that accompany our journeys in the wilderness, and enrich
our experiences there. Steven is also a very talented musician, and
keeps us all entertained from time to time around the camp fire! All of our full time instructional team hold first aid, wilderness first aid, 4x4 off road driving, and food handling and hygiene certificates as a basic requirement.
Guest Instructor Profiles
Ben Orford is one of the UK’s most talented green woodworkers. During the many years he spent learning his craft, Ben apprenticed green woodworking ‘guru’ Mike
Abbott for several years, and spent time in North America, working with
the Hupa tribe, who invited him to their reservation to teach advanced
woodworking skills. An accomplished green woodworker, chair bodger,
tool-smith and woodsman; Ben also makes the ‘Woodlander’ knife
exclusively for Woodsmoke, and is a guest instructor on our ‘Axe
Work-shop’.
Wilderness Guide Werner Pfeifer was born in Namibia, where
he has worked as a professional hunting guide and as a Nature
Conservation Officer, often involved in anti-poaching operations. In
1990, he moved to Germany where he studied at the university of Kiel to
become a teacher, during this period he met Harm Paulsen (of the
Schleswig State Museum) who taught him Stone Age skills. Since then
Werner has specialised in teaching primitive technology, and has run
courses at many of Europe’s living history museums. He returned to
Namibia in 2003, where he now runs specialist tours, including
wilderness bush safaris and archaeological explorations. He is currently involved in initiating a fair-trade living history museum with the San Bushman - by the people, for the people. Werner will be leading the ‘Bowyer’ courses in 2007.
Rob Pickering grew up in Kent and spent his childhood on the North downs studying
natural history with his mother. After many years in the music
industry, Rob returned to his love of nature and attended his first
course in bushcraft, studying with Ray Mears at ‘Woodlore’ in 1999 . Since then, Rob has honed his bushcraft skills and has acquired the green woodworking skills of hedge-layer, hurdle making, coppicing, axe work, wood carving, leather work and tool making. With a keen interest in sustainability and self -sufficiency Rob has acquired an NVQ in horticulture. An avid believer in life time learning Rob is currently studying pottery. A keen fisherman, Rob is frequently found on the Dorset coast, he is a wild food fanatic and a keen forager of free foods. From Spring to Autumn, he is constantly refining his recipes for soups, hedgerow jams/ syrups, wild meats and alcoholic beverages! Rob joined the Woodsmoke team in 2003 and is a guest instructor on the wild food courses and axe work shops.