Following on from our logbook post about woodland management, here is a short video documenting a full week of coppicing, thinning and ride widening in a beautiful woodland in Surrey. Whilst we are unlikely to win any awards as film makers, it’s been nice to make this little film and to have a record of some of the work I’ve carried out this winter.

Photos and thoughts from a week of woodland management work with Wild Sussex in a beautiful small woodland in Surrey.

Introducing our new van - a 1995 Mitsubishi Delica L300 Starwagon!

The story of our beloved Misubishi Delica, which sadly ended up in a scrap yard after an accident in late April.

A guide to making a simple dandelion syrup - the perfect way to welcome spring!

Back at the end of July, Emma spent an inspiring week studying ethnobotany with the Woodcraft School in West Sussex.

We have just wrapped up a busy week here in the woods selectively thinning a number of Scots pines (Pines sylvestris) as part of our long term management plan. Woodland management is a complicated business, one which I have conflicting views on. In truth I loathe the idea of ‘managing’ any part of nature in any way. Management sounds sterile and dull, yet nature is chaotic, messy and pulsing with living energy. I am an advocate of allowing natural processes to take place and learning from nature by watching events unfold.

On Saturday 25th January we headed into the woods for our first workshop of the decade. After postponing our autumn woodcarving workshop twice due to stormy weather, we were really looking forward to finally getting this one underway.

After what has been a cold, grey winter, the promise of sunshine and frosty mornings up North was too much to resist, so we headed on a last minute trip to the Lake District for a mini winter adventure…

This autumn has been a wet, windy and fairly dull affair here in the woods so far; a far cry from the two previous years which delivered warm sunny days and cold nights resulting in riotous displays of autumn colour. There has been one positive from all the wet weather however, our gaze has been diverted from the golden leaves above to the earth beneath our feet and an explosion of fungi working their mycelial magic amongst the leaf litter.

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to build my own house or a cabin in the woods somewhere, and having the ability to make things with my hands and a shed full of tools accumulated over the years and a good reason, it seemed like now was the right time to give it a try. When I had visions of building a cabin, I imagined it would be built from round timber and I would build the whole thing with hand tools; axes and gouges, Dick Proenekke style.

A while back we had the idea to create a series of handmade flags to help us promote our creative studio and as a way for us to collaborate on a creative project; Andrew on illustration and Emma on sewing. We collaborated with our friends at Millican who provided us with the fabric, read more and see the full set here.

Last weekend we headed down to a very wet and windy Wales to Plas Y Brenin to attend a Mountain Skills training course and we thought we’d share a few of the details and insights into our experience here.

This June we embarked on a family holiday to the mountains of Snowdonia in search of woodland, waterfalls and toddler friendly outdoor adventures…

I’ve just finished making a small batch of our wooden cups and thought I’d share what goes in to the making of our Wild Spirit Drinking Vessels and Polaris Coffee Cups. These are our own versions of the traditional drinking vessel of the far north, the kuksa, guksi or noggin depending on where you’re from. We first encountered cups like this on a trek in the far north of Sweden; seeing hikers use these to scoop up icy water from mountain streams was one of the things that inspired me to pick up my axe and start making things from wood, eventually creating Miscellaneous Adventures.

Last year we made the difficult decision to stop running our regular workshop calendar and focus on hosting private groups and bespoke events instead. But when the first signs of spring started to emerge this February, we couldn’t resist the urge to arrange a Woodland Wooodcarving Workshop coinciding with bluebell season…

Around this time every year, we head into the woods to cook up an outdoor feast to celebrate midwinter, the forthcoming festive season and to toast the year past. This year we decided to focus on creating a liquid accompaniment to our feasting, something warming that celebrated the season, something that tasted like Christmas in drinkable form.

One of the big challenges of undertaking a multi-day hike with a two year old in tow is figuring out how to carry said two year old plus camping gear, food and water for the three people for the duration of the trip. In this post we’ve detailed the gear we used during our three day hike along a section of the High Coast of Sweden in the hope it will help if you’re planning a similar adventure…

It was a trip to Sweden 7 years ago, our first encounter with nature at its wildest, that provided the spark of inspiration for Miscellaneous Adventures, setting us on a new path with nature and outdoor adventure as our guides. When we began making plans for a special trip this summer, Sweden was naturally the first place that came to mind; we hoped the wild landscape and strong outdoor culture would be enliven our spirits as much now as it did 7 years ago. This time however, it wouldn't be just the two of us; we would be bringing Benji, our nearly two year old son, along for the journey.

Eleven months since we embarked on our turbulent adventure into van ownership, we are finally nearly finished with all our mechanical repairs and the camper conversion is pretty much completed and we’re excited to share the outcome - so here goes with Part Four!