About Wildway Bushcraft, the Bushcraft experts
John Boe
Owner & Chief instructor
Founder and owner of Wildway Bushcraft, John’s love for the outdoors started at an early age. Raised in a military family John was always outside in local woods building dens and making traps.
He attended his first survival course whilst in the Scouts at the age of 12 and has not looked back since. John joined the forces at 18 and has been lucky enough to be part of expeditions in the Austrian Alps, the Kuwaiti desert, Norway and the Highlands of Scotland allowing him to test his Bushcraft and Survival skills in a variety of environments.
John left the forces in 2015 and settled in Dorset with his young family. He continued his Bushcraft and Survival studies in the civilian world. John holds the Survival School NCFE Level 4 Bushcraft, Survival and Wilderness living skills qualification The Survival School NCFE Level 3 in Extreme Survival, The Survival School NCFE Level 3 in Foraging, The Survival School NCFE Level 3 in Primitive Crafts and The Survival School NCFE Level 3 in Tracking. As well as this John is also a British Canoe Union (BCU) 4 Star Canoe Leader and Paddlesport Coach. John passes on his Bushcraft and Survival skills in a fun and relaxed manner, believing Bushcraft and Survival skills are two sides of the same coin, John has a real passion for teaching practical and adaptable Bushcraft skills and takes genuine pleasure in his teaching.
When not teaching you will find him leading groups in many outdoor adventure activities and just generally spending time outside with his family and dogs in Dorset.
Craig Summers
Craig is a husband and father of two teenage boys and loves being outside developing his skills. His love of the outdoors started at an early age having grown up in a small Hampshire village where he spent his childhood climbing trees, making dens and getting home after dark. He previously developed a successful career in the finance industry but in his spare time was always exploring and organising ‘wild camping ‘ adventures for him, his sons and anyone else who wanted to experience sleeping out in woodlands or the outdoors. He spent 10 years as a Scout Leader, and it was during this time that he attended an outdoor cookery course run by Wildway Bushcraft and met John which led to a complete re-evaluation of the direction he wanted his career and life to take. Fast forward a few years, Craig has left the finance industry, made great new friends, is a senior instructor at Wildway and a full-time outdoor educator…….. it really was a great cookery course 😊
Craig is passionate about sharing his knowledge with others and gets huge satisfaction from seeing the students at Wildway succeed in their efforts. He loves that the students get the time and close contact with instructors to learn in a comfortable, confident and focussed way. He personally really enjoys delivering fire lighting sessions and talking about fire, and as anyone who’s attended a course will know, it’s always a highlight for him to see students gain that first ember from the bow drill.
Stacey Allsop
Stacey has been teaching Bushcraft and Wilderness living skills professionally, and for pleasure since 2009.
He has a strong and infectious passion for wild food and basic backwoods medicine, and he’s comfortably at home in the wild anywhere, in any weather!
Stacey truly believes in both learning and sharing knowledge, skills and experiences in a safe, fun and inclusive wilderness setting is paramount in promoting wellbeing, self-confidence and self-reliance.
Stacey says ” I find it incredibly rewarding, joyous and inspiring to be part of the Wildway Bushcraft Team, along with our awesome customers.
I love the energy and sense of community that manifests during our time together on courses, and long after. Think outside, no box required! “
Mark Dean
Mark is an ex Royal Marine Commando who has instructed and worked in some of the world’s most extreme environments covering jungle, arctic and desert survival throughout a 20 year period within the forces.
His passion for the outdoors stems from a child who grew up around his Grandfathers small holding in the UK, learning to understand the land and all that is has to offer.
Having being medically retired from the forces, Mark now has a passion for passing on “knowledge bombs” utilising his experience covering extreme survival, escape and evasion and mountaineering.
Being part of the Wildway’s team he is enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge of navigation techniques with students of all ages and abilities; this coupled with varying approaches to all subjects in the world of bushcraft, adds to the vast varied knowledge of the Wildway team.
Ian Purdy
Ian discovered his love and passion for all things ‘Bushcraft’ whilst training for the Royal Marines back in early 2011. Despite always exploring and playing in the great outdoors before this, his real studies began there…..and they show no signs of stopping!
He has worked on and off for Wildway over the last 6 years and has a really infectious attitude toward learning. Because of that we’re incredibly happy to have him as part of the team.
Ian has a wife and 2 kids who share in all of his wild adventures to the nether regions of some of the worlds primary jungles and beyond. He is an avid wood carver, loves a good craft project amongst other things and we promise he’s not just on the team so we can get free Kuksas 😋
Paul Riste
Having grown up in London, Paul loved escaping to the countryside and spending time in Cornwall exploring woodland and coastal areas. He strongly believes that doing things you enjoyed as a child is just as, if not more, enjoyable doing them as an adult. Joining a Wildway Level 2 course a few years ago has been life changing, and now spends as much time as he can helping others enjoy his rekindled passion for the wild. Paul is a firm believer in the mental health benefits of being outdoors and surrounded by nature, and actively encourages people to “look up” away from devices and modern life. Leaving a career in Engineering behind him, he is now a full time Outdoor Educator for Children and Adults.
By mixing his Engineering background in conjunction with bushcraft and ancient crafts, he tries to find ways to make life more comfortable outdoors.
Believing that you never stop learning, Paul is currently undertaking his NCFE Level 4 Advanced Bushcraft in 2024-5. He already holds NCFE Level 3 in Foraging, Advanced Fire Lighting, Navigation and Intermediate Bushcraft courses, along with an Archery GB instructor qualification.
