Bushcraft and survival expert Phil Pemberton has always had a strong affinity with nature and the outdoors but it wasn’t until he attended one of Ray Mears’ courses in 2004 and spent a night trying to survive alone in the woods that he realised where his true vocation lay.

What should have been an uncomfortable and challenging experience made him realise that this was where he belonged and led him to train with Ray Mears and become a bushcraft leader himself.

Now Phil works alongside Sarah Kreutzer at Carlshead Farm offering a new element to Learning to Listen’s corporate training programmes.

Top barristers, airline pilots, dentists, surgeons and chief executives are among those who have already put themselves forward for a night or two under the stars with nothing more than the clothes they stand in.

When Phil takes people out of their urban comfort zone and strips away everything that’s familiar to them, they can often face tremendous physical and emotional challenges.

By the end of their survival experience, however, they feel very different and are usually standing ten feet tall, having learnt a lot about themselves and the way they operate in the workplace.

Phil also works with children with learning or behavioural difficulties including young offenders and those who have been excluded from school.

His courses show people how to make fire, hunt and cook squirrels and catch fish. He trains people in the dangers of the wild and how to find sustenance, medicine and shelter when civilisation is out of reach.
He uses bushcraft and survival experiences to teach people about problem solving, overcoming adversity and self-discipline.