Fieldcraft

  Returning to the Same Sit‑Spot Through the Seasons A sit‑spot is a lovely thing in the moment — ten quiet minutes, a patch of ground, and the gentle realisation that the outdoors doesn’t need you to achieve anything. But the real depth comes when you return to the same spot again and again, letting the year turn around you. Most people think of the seasons as four tidy blocks. But when you sit in one place regularly, you start to notice the dozens of smaller seasons hidden inside them. The early‑spring “everything is wet but hopeful” season. The late‑summer “grass has given up” season. The November “I should have brought gloves” season. A sit‑spot becomes a way of reading the year as a slow, unfolding story. Just sitting in nature also brings us benefits, such as wellbeing and mindfulness too. Winter — The Bare‑Bones Season Your winter visits might feel stark at first. The trees are stripped back, the ground is cold, and the wind has opinions. But winter is when the structure of...

  The Art of the Sit‑Spot:  Doing Nothing, Outdoors, On Purpose There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes from being able to sit still outdoors without feeling like you should be doing something. Not striding. Not navigating. Not checking your watch to see whether you’re “making good time”. Just… sitting. It sounds simple, and it is — but it’s also one of the most useful fieldcraft skills you can develop. A sit‑spot teaches you to notice things you’d otherwise stride straight past. It slows your breathing, sharpens your senses, and reminds you that the outdoors isn’t a gym session you’re meant to complete. It’s a place you can inhabit. And the best part? You don’t need any special kit, training, or a dramatic landscape. A sit‑spot works on a moor, in a wood, beside a canal, or on a scruffy patch of grass behind a retail park. The land doesn’t mind. Why Sit at All? When you stop moving, the world stops reacting to you. Birds settle. Wind patterns become obvious. You n...

  Traveller’s Potato Soup: Simple Outdoor Cooking for Beginners Outdoor cooking isn’t about hardship or proving anything. You’re not surviving; you’re enjoying yourself. A small fire, a simple pot, and a few honest ingredients are enough to make something warm and satisfying. Victorian travellers cooked this way because it worked, not because it was romantic. Beginners can take comfort in that — the whole point is to keep things steady, safe, and simple. A handful of new potatoes, a spoon of animal fat, a pinch of herbs, and clean drinking water . That last bit matters. You’re cooking for pleasure, not purifying swamp water. Use the same water you’d happily drink straight from your bottle. Fire Safety and Setup Before lighting anything, clear a safe patch of ground. Brush away leaves, dry grass, and anything that might catch. If conditions are tinder‑dry, don’t light a fire at all — switch to a stove or eat cold. Enjoyment stops the moment you risk the landscape. Keep water within ...

  Fieldcraft Cooking: Honest Food That Tastes Like It Should Fieldcraft cooking tastes different from what most people are used to — simpler, cleaner, and far more honest. Modern food leans heavily on stock cubes, dairy, thickeners, emulsifiers, and a long list of extras designed to make everything taste the same no matter where you buy it. Fieldcraft food doesn’t bother with any of that. It’s just ingredients doing their own work, the way they always did before factories took over. When you cook outdoors, you notice flavours you’d normally miss. A bit of fat melting into a pot gives a gentle richness — warm, rounded, and comforting without being heavy. It’s the kind of depth people used to take for granted before everything became low‑fat, low‑salt, and over‑processed. There’s no artificial boost, no hidden shortcuts. Just real food behaving like real food. Vegetables taste different too. A potato cooked over a small fire brings its own natural sweetness and starch, thickening a b...