Graeme Dow 

In spite of his teachers' best efforts, Graeme’s suburban education revolved around his own ‘extra-curricular syllabus’, where he excelled in den building, tree climbing, writing, drawing, singing and graffiti.  All of these resulted in a richly expressive, creative childhood, where play and the outdoors were central features.

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After working with National Trust wardens at Box Hill, Surrey, he went on to develop his landscaping business in Bristol, focussing on wildlife and edible gardens and living willow structures in schools, getting training in Permaculture and Landscape Design along the way.

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He has also worked with people of all ages and abilities in a teaching and support capacity and is qualified in Person Centred Counselling and is a Level 3 Forest School and Coast School Leader.

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Having spent a few years exploring Yorkshire, Graeme is now based on the coast in wild West Wales, where he is passionate about re-connecting  people and nature, creating accessible woodland spaces and facilitating others to explore, excel and celebrate their own unique journey.

 Susi Riley 

Blessed with a rich and diverse upbringing, Susi spent most of her days making mud pies on allotments, exploring the countryside of Yorkshire, swimming in rivers, helping her family grow veg and run their craft business and generally playing quite hard.

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These early nourishing experiences inspired a love of people, playfulness and a deep connection with the outdoors. After a temporary blip as a rebellious teenager, Susi went on to train and work in social care, performing arts, forest schools and as a Natural Nutritionist.

She is passionate about play and child-led learning as a means of promoting confidence, well-being and creative thinking, which is central to her work as a Forest School Leader. She endeavours to help people find a feeling of connection with each other and the natural world using skills of storytelling, music, alternative health care and nature crafts.

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Susi is currently home schooling her own two children whilst also training as a childcare provider with the aim of setting up an outdoor kindergarten.

 Nick Kendall 

Nick grew up exploring the rivers, canals, woodlands and fields that surrounded him during childhood, fostering a long term love of the outdoors and a strong connection with nature.  He served in the Royal Air Force, developing his outdoor skills with bushcraft and survival skills training, including climbing, kayaking, orienteering and running, culminating in representing the Royal Air Force as a boxer in the Super Heavyweight category. On discharge he continued in uniform serving as a constable in the Police service. After finally hanging up his uniforms he has always strived towards working in the outdoors, sharing the skills he has learnt with others.

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During this time he has learnt how to carve and craft using green wood, producing items for home and market using axes, froes and knives and also creating items from leather, such as pouches and tool sheaths.  His bushcraft experience included learning how to make cordage and use it to complete a bow drill set and create an ember to make fire, how to purify water using this fire and how to make a comfortable camp in any weather. 

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These skills were learnt through a love of the abilities of our not-so-distant ancestors, to be able to fashion the things they needed to exist from the resources immediately to hand.  This fuelled a passion to learn as much about these skills himself and to be able to introduce them to others, so that they can feel the confidence-building satisfaction of being able thrive when out in the elements.

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Having studied Landscape Architecture as a mature student, Nick enjoys designing outdoor spaces that strive to reconnect people to the fabric of their environment, and the challenge of designing community spaces that immerse people in the joys of nature as healer, teacher and playmaker.

 Jade Mellor 

Jade grew up by the sea in Kent, the garden of England. After countless jobs and various trips around the world, she studied horticulture, got an allotment and settled her feet firmly on the ground.

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To the dismay of the other allotment owners, it soon became obvious that Jade was more interested in the flourishing wild spaces in between her slug eaten, rodent nibbled crops,  and her love and fascination of weeds was born.

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When Jade moved to West Wales her journey with wild food really began. After working with a local forager who supplied London restaurants with wild greens, she soon set up her own business, Wild Pickings, which has been running for over a decade.  The early days were spent turning raw, wild ingredients into delicious food and bringing these to farmers markets and food festivals all over Wales.  It was here that she met countless people who wanted to learn how to forage for themselves and so she started connecting adults and children with the art of foraging.

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Jade runs an array of wild food walks and workshops, focusing on the ever changing bounty the seasons have to offer. She can usually be found, with baby in tow, scrambling around the hedgerows, beaches and meadows, picking and tasting delights of the wild.  She has been a professional forager for over twelve years and is a member of the Association of Foragers.

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Jade is also a keen practitioner of mindfulness. After completing a mindfulness based stress reduction course in 2014, she took these skills outside into nature and into foraging, and now shares this practice of Mindfulness in Nature.