FAQs
Please choose a camp location and date on our website and follow the booking instructions. You can book multiple children on each camp, if required. Alternatively, please call 03332 004469 and a member of our customer service team will be able to help you.
Camp wilderness is run by The Bushcraft Company - a leading provider of school trips and leavers camps for schools across the country. We are the largest providers of Bushcraft based camps in the UK.
At Camp Wilderness it is our aim to provide children with real outdoor adventures, allowing them to escape from their high-tech lives, all within safe and beautiful woodlands.
Our camps are fully inclusive, and all food including snacks, will be provided. This means there's no need to pack any extra tuck! We have a complete No Nut policy on camp - please respect this.
At Camp Wilderness, we provide an outlet for outdoor education as opposed to childcare, so are not registered with Ofsted. This means that we are sadly unable to accept childcare vouchers for our summer camps. As an organisation that works with young people we are members of and inspected by a number of outdoor adventure governing bodies, which include:
• Bapa (british activity provider association)
• The council for learning outside the classroom (lotc)
• Adventuremark is a non-statutory safety scheme devised by the adventure activity industry advisory committee (aaiac)
• Institute for outdoor learning (iol)
• Royal society for the prevention of accidents (rospa)
Yes, every member of our staff has had an Enhanced DBS check.
Our team have a great deal of experience running camps of this kind, having worked for the rest of the year delivering school trips. They also receive extensive in-house training, as well as obtaining qualifications from national governing bodies for specialised activities, including archery and swimming. All camp leaders are first aid trained, and our field cooks have food hygiene certificates.
During camp the children will be split into ‘tribe’ groups, these will be groups of up to 10 children. Overall, we operate our camps on a ratio of 8 children: 1 member of staff.
Our camps have large tipi-structures where activities can take place if we have any inclement weather - most of the time, we continue whatever the weather, as we're often shaded by the tree canopy.
We have a 'no tech' rule on all our camps! Camp wilderness is an opportunity for children to get away from the busyness of their everyday lives and spend time away from their screens. Please do not send your child to camp with their phone, or any other high value electricals. Any phones that arrive on camp will be stored in a safe box, so that we can ensure they don't get damaged. If we need to get in contact with you regarding your child’s welfare, our staff will have a full list of parents contact numbers and will be in touch directly.
Every night, there will always be at least one male and one female member of staff on duty, who'll sleep centrally. The children are informed who those staff members are and where they will be each evening.
Yes, we always aim to have at least one female member of staff on each camp.
Many of the children come to camp on their own and have a wonderful time. They always leave with lots of new friends and it’s a great time for them to build their confidence and develop new skills.
Yes, if they are within the age ranges for each camp. These are 8-10 years on our junior camps and 10-14 years on our regular camps, 10-year olds can choose which they would prefer. If you would like your children to be in the same ‘Tribe’, please add their names to the ‘Tribe’ buddies’ section on the booking form.
It’s very rare for children not to settle at camp but if your child is unhappy for any reason, not resolved by one of our staff, your child’s camp leader will contact you directly.
On the middle day of your child’s camp we will send out an email, to let you know how the children are getting on and what they’ve been up to.
Other than this, we always say, ‘no news, is good news’ when it comes to camp communications. If you have any worries or concerns during camp and need to get in touch with us please give us a call on 03332 004 469 and someone in our customer service team will be able to help. If you are calling about an emergency, outside of office hours, please call this number and you will be provided with the number for our duty phone.
Sadly, we are unable to allow any parents to visit children on camp.
The children sleep in groups of 8-10, in large single-sex bell tents at the camp.
No, sadly we are only able to offer swimming at Cornbury park and Penshurst place on our 5-day camps.
Our meals are freshly prepared on site, and include meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, bread and pasta, as well as plenty of snacks. Typical meals include spaghetti bolognaise, roast salmon and beef fajitas.
Yes. We cater for all dietary requirements and pride ourselves on providing delicious alternative meals for halal, kosher, lactose-free, wheat-free, coeliac, pescatarian, vegetarian and all other diets.
When booking your child’s place, we will ask you to fill out a form with any medical conditions, where you can outline any details. If you child will need to take any medication on camp, please make sure that you have completed a ‘medicine form’ which can be found in your parents pack and hand this over with the medication, labelled with your child’s name when you drop them off at camp.
Please give us a call to let us know that your child will no longer be attending. If we cannot help you rearrange for another camp in the same summer season, we will be able to refund 50% of the booking if you let us know 14 days before the camp starts. After 14 days prior to camp unfortunately we will not be able to refund any monies.
If you child becomes unwell on camp our staff will get in touch with you to discuss what’s going on. If we agree that we can deal with the illness on camp, such as offering some painkillers for a mild headache, then we will do so - with your permission. If we believe that your child is too unwell to remain on camp, or is contagious, we will arrange with you to come and collect them.
Our loos are flushing porta-style loos like you might find at a festival. We do not have gender specific porta loos as they are single cubicles. You may what to communicate to your child prior to camp that any tissues, wet-wipes or sanitary items (including the packaging) can be flushed down the toilet. Please also reassure them, that if they have any problems at all surrounding toileting they can speak to any of our staff about this.
On 5-day summer camps, children will shower once. Hand-washing, and general hygiene is very important on camp. On any camp we do have access to showers if one is needed due to an accident or period.
Camp Wilderness has a responsibility for ensuring the well-being and safety of all children whilst on camp. We recognise the importance of encouraging positive behaviour, as well as outlining clear guidelines for staff dealing with poor behaviour, to ensure the well-being and safety of all children. Our behaviour policy offers guidelines to management, staff, the parent(s)/guardian(s) and children regarding acceptable behaviour whilst on camp. This policy also covers the course of action that will be taken if behaviour is deemed unacceptable. Camp Wilderness strives to promote positive behaviour which should be honoured by every child and member of staff at camp.
Any details that you require to help you prepare for camp can be found in your 'Parent's Pack', you will recieve this as an attachment to your orginal booking confirmation email. Please be aware that due to safeguarding we only send 'Parent's Packs' to the person who made the booking, so if you have booked multiple children onto camp please pass this onto their parents or guardians.
Please note that the address on this website is for our head office not our camps. Due to safeguarding, we don’t have our actual estate locations online. Once you've made a booking you will be able to find the exact directions as a part of your 'Parent's Pack'.
The safety and security of children and staff are extremely important to us. To ensure the all children and staff are secure with as minimal risk as possible, we aim to restrict all external access to the camp. When it is impossible to lock all external access, we will endeavour to have all external gates closed to prevent unwanted visitors. Staff are responsible for monitoring the entrances and exits to the camp throughout the camp.
If you are running late just give us a call and we will be able to let our camp staff know when to expect you.
Sadly, we are unable to take responsibility for items left behind on camp, so please do a double check that you have collected all your child’s belongings at pick-up. Any items that are left behind will be returned to our head office and donated to charity at the end of the summer. Please make sure that every item is clearly labelled and please don't send your child with any high value items, we are very happy for them to come in their old clothes!
