• Scope of Learning
  • Sustainable use, in a practical sense. What do we, as individuals, actually need as essentials for living, and how can those things be obtained on a basis that is sustainable for the other life forms we share with?
  • The absolute connection between us and nature, going from a natural resource through to a finished product: making an item such as a chair, a basket, a knife or tool, a gate, a hedge, a roof, a wall, an item of clothing, or a meal by growing or harvesting the resource and taking it through all the stages of production to a completed article of use.
  • The continuity of life from one generation to the next. You reap what others have sown and others reap what you sow. We use vegetable gardening and woodland management, including tree-planting and the cutting of timber as practical examples.
  • The inter-generational transmission of intangible cultural heritage. We use older people to pass on their experience and knowledge of country skills that cannot easily be learned in formal institutions. This is in line with the UNESCO 2003 ICH Convention.
  • Adapt skills to include modern developments. Include modern machinery such as tractors, chainsaws and computers where appropriate and relevant to modern life. To come away with some practical skills of their own, and an appreciation of the skills of others.
  • The use of energy resources including hydro, wood biomass, solar and geothermal in both commercial formats and in home-made forms.
  • Teamwork without competition. Making a group of people into a team to use their strengths and support their weaknesses to achieve a common goal.
  • To have the opportunity to work entirely alone in the countryside.
  • To take care and responsibility for an animal, plant or person other than oneself.
  • To take total responsibility for something, using ‘responsibility batons’. This may entail leadership skills, command skills, physical or mental skills, but ultimately the acceptance that the buck stops with you.
  • The development of common sense, using initiative to identify potential hazards and act without waiting for guidance. To use dangerous tools and to be in dangerous situations.
  • To incorporate modern science throughout all elements, including species surveys, wildlife management and restoration ecology.
  • To include people regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, politics or wealth, but to exclude religion or politics as any part of the activities.
  • To exclude serious competition, and activities incompatible with the quiet countryside such as paint-balling, motorbike scrambling, heavy shooting etc.

The Bevis Trust