Following on from our previous post, here's part three in our series of blog posts about the creation and development of our Mitsubishi Delica Camper. In this post we share how we quickly discovered that #vanlife is not all sunshine, golden light and good vibes and planning and preparation are everything, especially when you add a toddler into the mix...

Not only have we been beavering away refreshing our site and visual identity, we have also been working hard to add to our existing product range, designing and making new items to compliment our updates. The first in a fresh batch of wares featuring our new branding is particularly special; a beautiful camping spoon, hand made from copper by none other than Andrew's Dad, Anthony Groves.

Sometimes multiple events or situations culminate at just the right time to generate a greater impact than each individual moment could of by itself. One of those moments, which lead to the start of Miscellaneous Adventures is the tale of Dick Proenneke. 

In part two, we want share the story of how we built a removable camping unit for our van. Not because we think it’s a work of genius, or a thing of beauty, but because we think something like this is (relatively) easily achievable for those of us who don’t have the ability, tools, time or funds to fully convert a van into a camper.

Last summer, after years of yearning, we finally bought a van and have been slowly fixing it up, making it adventure ready. We’ve received a fair few e-mails and comments about the vehicle and our progress so we thought we’d share as much as we can here on our logbook for anyone interested.

It's become an annual tradition for us in recent years to celebrate the festive season by heading into the woods and cooking up a Christmas feast over the campfire. Read on for all the details our latest recipe maybe give it a go this holiday season.

On a dull, overcast autumn morning, we found ourselves travelling north, our van loaded with axes, wood and camping gear headed for the Millican HQ in the Lake District National Park to teach a two day workshop at the foot of Skiddaw as part of their inaugural Travel Collective event.

In mid October, after a weekend spent teaching indoors, we found ourselves back in the woods setting up for our third annual Axcellent Adventure;  two full days of wild camping, camp fire cooking and a thorough introduction to the art of axing thus encapsulating everything we enjoy doing in the woods.

All around us here in the woods, autumn is making its presence felt; vivid green leaves are slowly yellowing, robins are singing their melancholy song, acorns are raining down from above and flowers have transformed into colourful, shiny alluring fruits.

After a visit during Emma's pregnancy in early 2016, we returned to the western fjords of Norway this year to introduce our now 10 month old son to the wild sights and sounds of Norway and to give ourselves the chance to further hike, explore and absorb the majesty of the Norwegian landscape. 

This weekend saw the first of our Drawn to Nature workshops take place on a sunny Saturday in the woods. Drawn to Nature is a completely different kind of day to our usual woodcarving workshops and we were excited to get underway.

Yesterday was the first truly warm day of spring so far; In the evening I took a short walk around the woods, chasing the fading orange light and taking mental notes on the activity of the fallow deer, when I heard a crackling, popping sound coming from the canopy. I looked up and around, expecting to see a grey squirrel munching on the pine cones but none could be found. No birds either. What could it be?

In spring, as a tree awakens from its dormant winter state, water and nutrients begin to pump through the sapwood as sap. These nutrients are sent to the buds enabling them to unfurl and thus begins the process of new growth for that year. In this post we'll show you how to tap a birch tree for it's sap and how to make beer with the results.

This year we headed into the woods for Pancake Day and ditched the classic sugar and lemon recipe in favour of a hearty sweetcorn, potato and cheese savoury lunchtime snack. We found this recipe online but omitted a few ingredients to make it easier to cook outdoors and added grated cheese because, well, cheese.

As Christmas fast approaches and visions of anticipated feasting and merrymaking begin to fill our thoughts, we'd like to introduce you to our festive twist on the burrito, one of our favourite foods to cook outdoors. The Pheasantly Festive Burrito is a little like an entire Christmas dinner cooked over fire.

Marketing and communications strategy agency All Conditions Media came to us recently seeking a bespoke workshop for a team day out. ACM provide content and PR services for outdoor adventure and action sports brands and have worked for some of our favourites including Finisterre and Danner so we jumped at the chance to cook up a special day in the woods.