Dryad Bushcraft: About Us

Dryad Bushcraft offers a range of activity survival courses dedicated to personal development and teambuilding skills. This is achieved through the study of Bushcraft and survival techniques. Based on the Gower peninsular in southwest Wales this beautiful rugged peninsular was designated Britain’s first area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) on the 9th of May 1956.

The Area covers 188 sq Km with a coastline of 59 Km. Its complex geological formation has created a diverse range of terrain, condensed into a relatively small area. The South coast of Gower is predominantly carboniferous limestone which has formed into spectacular cliffs and sandy bays, popular with Rock climbers and surfers. The north coast is dominated by salt marshes and sand dunes, which support a range of flora and fauna to rival any in the UK. The inland sections of Gower play host to large areas of common land and sandstone heath ridges, including the majestic Cefn Bryn. Steep sided glacial valleys support plentiful deciduous and coniferous woodlands, perfect for the study of Bushcraft skills.

We are committed to youth development and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources.

Dryad bushcraft group talk

Instructor Profile

Andrew Price (Founder and Head instructor of Dryad Bushcraft)

Andrew Price (Founder and Head instructor of Dryad Bushcraft)

Andrew was born on the 15th of February 1974. Since then he has spent every spare moment in the pursuit of Adventure. He has travelled extensively all over the world in order to study the traditional skills of indigenous peoples including the Orang Astli people of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, as well as the native inhabitants of Australia and Canada.

He is an experienced practitioner of a wide range of outdoor pursuits including Kayaking, Cycling, Rock Climbing, and Mountaineering. He is also passionate about Film making and the Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1997 with a Degree in Media and Theatre studies. This background in performance arts lends an infectious spontaneity and energy to his teaching.

"I first became interested in learning how to live in the outdoors at a very young age when my Father showed me how to catch sea Bass and Mackerel around the Gower coast, from an old Canvas and Wood Kayak. Later, I would spend every spare moment exploring the woods close to my home, or reading about the great explorers and their exploits. At the age of eighteen I took part in a Raleigh International expedition to Malaysia, an experience that would change my life and set me on the course to travel all over the world, and to discover all I could about the natural world and the lives of its indigenous people. 

Dryad Bushcraft was started a few years ago with funding from the Welsh assembly sustainable development fund. My objective was to provide courses in the techniques of sustainable living through the medium of Bushcraft and other outdoor activities. Dryad Bushcraft now runs courses for a wide range of individuals and organisations throughout Wales, and we are continually designing new courses and activities in order to keep things interesting. One of our newest developments is the ability to offer a range of Welsh language Bushcraft and Survival courses, which are proving extremely popular." Andrew Pice Head instructor of Dryad Bushcraft

A brief history of the gower

The History of Gower is as rich and diverse as its geography. Archaeological investigations have produced evidence of human habitation from the Palaeolithic period onwards including the discovery in 1826 of a red Ochre stained human skeleton in Paviland Cave. This skeleton was originally believed to have been that of a woman and was therefore named the Red Lady of Paviland. It has since been identified as the skeleton of a young man who lived 29,000 years ago. This is the oldest set of human remains found in the UK, and the oldest ceremonial burial in Western Europe. The skeleton was found along with jewellery made from ivory, as well as a mammoth skull and other animal bones.

Dryad Bushcraft is proud to be associated with such a significant region and we will do everything possible to ensure that your visit is as enjoyable as you would wish it to be. We have an excellent rapport with other activity providers in the area and would be very happy to incorporate other activities into your visit. (Please see links)* We can also arrange accommodation for your visit.

Links to external articles

Testimonial from a Client

To: andrew price Subject: Re: Thanks for a great day yesterday Andrew, he's some words: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The three things that characterised the day we have with Andrew were relaxation, education and fun. The site was easy to find and, after a short drive up the road, we found a nice area of woodland to build the fire and spend the day.

Andrew gave us some sensible safety advice on how to use the knives he'd handed out without losing fingers or puncturing our femoral arteries !? With the basics covered, we went gathering firewood of different sizes to get the fire going. Andrew demonstrated the fire bow technique, getting the bundle of tinder flaming in just a few minutes from start to finish! We were fairly gob-smacked after DVDs and TV programmes we had seen with people spending hours trying to get it working. Andrew stressed the importance of preparation - do it right and the bowing bit is like clockwork, cut corners in preparation and be ready for lots of work! After Andrew got the fire building up (to boil the water for a brew), I was first up for the fire bow :-) Using the same drill and hearth Andrew had, I gave it a good bit of bowing and (to my amazement) I produced a glowing pile of wood dust, tipped it nervously into the bundle of dried grass and gently blew on it. The smoke started curling out gently.

I gave it long, gentle blows and the smoke got stronger and thicker. One last big blow and I had flames!! :-) Whoo Hoo! Andrew spent the whole day giving us interesting and useful facts and advice. He's a natural teacher, talking about things he knows because he's tried them rather than just read them from a book. The difference is easy to spot. "What sort of wood works best?" might get the answer: "I prefer ivy with a hazel drill but lime works well too. Best thing is to try them out and if the dust is too brown that means the drill is too hard, etc etc" - always practical and useful answers that encourage you to get out and learn more by trying it yourself.

We also had a go with steel and flint - using char cloth to get the hay-ball burning. We tried some dried tinder fungus which worked well too. The one method that failed miserably was the most modern :-) with potassium permanganate and anti-freeze; we waited for a while but nothing happened at all! Not enough hard work involved to be rewarded with flames I suppose!

We cooked sausages on sticks and ate them in baguettes. We drank tea boiled up over the fire. We went foraging for bits of useful wood to practice with at home after the day's course. Everybody had a good go with the different techniques and most of the group got flames. Some of the wood we tried wasn't quite dry enough and brought disappointment after lots of exhausting bowing, but that's part of the learning process. All in all it was a great value day that we all really enjoyed. It made a great change of pace from work and I'd love to spend much more time learning other things from Andrew and practising my fire making.

Get a group together and go to the Gower for a day - you'll have a great time.

John Davies Technical Director (RPL Electronics Ltd) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Testimonial from a Client

To: Andrew Price Subject: Re: Dryad Bushcraft 1 day introduction to Bushcraft course, Sat 31st May 2008

Hi Andrew, I was on one of your 1 day bushcraft courses last saturday. Just a not to say I thoroughly enjoyed my day in the woods! It was everything I'd hoped it would be - really interesting. I couldn't believe I managed to make fire with the Bow Drill! What an achievement! I was so inspired that the very next day I made a small fire on the beach and collected and cooked limpets and whinkles! I cooked the limpets upside down in their own shells and placed the whinkles on a large half shell plate over the hot coals. The limpets didn't taste of much and were a little chewy, but the whinkles were good! The following day I made nettle tea made from nettles I collected walking to work! Its really changed how I look at things in the wild now - I'm looking forward to perfecting the skills you taught me.

I'm determined to catch razor clams though - no luck yet. Tellin are also on my menu. I think a testimonials/feedback section on the website would be a good addition. Feel free to use my comments if you go down this route. Also I took some really good photos which I'm happy to let you have for the website and to use in your promotional material. I took rather alot though, so I'll have to pop them on a disc if you would like them. (attached is one of me) Maybe see you again on one of the more advanced courses.

Cheers, Stuart McDonald

Testimonial from a Client

Just returned from my day in the woods with Dryad bushcraft and thought i'd share my experience with you all.

So....... After afew too many ales the night before:nono: , i rocked up to the rendezvous (Gower heritage centre in Swansea) an hour too early. :rolleyes: DOH!! however this did give me a chance to have a little explore and clear my head in time for the 9:30 start.

I was soon met by our instructor for the day, Heath Dawson, who immediately calmed any nerves i had and informed me that there was infact only two of us booked onto the course for the day which meant that we were going to get alot covered on a one to one level.

We took a short car ride and a 10 minute walk into the surrounding woodland and arrived at the basecamp, our home for the day. Heath immediately told us just to sit for afew minutes and adjust to surroundings and tune in to what was going on around us. once we were adjusted and settled we got down to the nitty gritty. He ran through the basics of correct knife handling, saw work and a little bit of first aid before we were sent to go and select some suitable hazel to make some basic tent pegs and get to grips with basic cutting techniques. I have been using knives for a while but it was still good to learn that i am using them correctly and efficiently.

Having mastered the basics it then started to get interesting. It was time to for feathersticks, and i was quite frankly pathetic!! Maybe it was my slight hangover or maybe i am just crap at feathersticks but either way i have alot of practicing to do and Heath was very helpful the whole time and managed to refrain from laughing at my efforts and gave me some useful advice to take away.

The dreaded feathersticks led us nicely into firelighting and we had a good play with numerous tinders and firelighting techniques and i made short work of this task as it was already something i was quite familiar with.

Fires lit and it was time for lunch, Heath had brought along some Mackeral, new potatoes and Haloumi cheese. He demonstrated how to gut and prepare the fish and showed us how to wrap them in Colts foot leaves. We were then going to bake them in little parcels in the embers of our fire. We duely did this and after around ten minutes in the embers we fried up the haloumi and boiled the potatoes in a billy can. The whole meal tasted fantastic:D . We appreciated the food alot more after the amount of effort preparing it all.

After a wash up we spent the afternoon looking at various natural shelters and he showed us a quick and easy method to rig up a tarp and hammock using afew simple hitches. After a final brew and a little bit of question time it was unfortunately time to leave the woods behind:( . The fires were thoroughly extinguished and the ashes scattered around.

Heath tested us a little on what we had learnt as we made our way back to the car and we said our goodbyes and thankyous for what was a truly wonderful, educational and fun day allround.

Overall i can thoroughly recommend Dryad Bushcraft. Good value for money, great tuition and in beautiful surroundings.

And a BIG thankyou to Heath who has more knowledge than i could ever hope to
learn.:You_Rock_

Hope you all enjoyed the short review.

Dan