Dirt Time is brought to you by WildWise and delivered by a team with over 15 years experience of working to build purposeful organisations and 25 years in leading transformational nature connection experiences.
Our full programme offers a diverse range of courses and events designed for adults, children and families. Our aim is to provide the inspiration for everyone to become connected to the wonder and enchantment of the natural world, helping to support ourselves and the earth to flourish. We bring together bushcraft, nature awareness and creative experiences with a spirit of play and enquiry, to facilitate a deeper connection to nature. We also deliver a range of training programmes for natural leaders including our pioneering year course ‘Call of The Wild’, delivered with Schumacher College, now in its 7th year, with over 125 trained and supported to be leaders and ambassadors for nature. We continue to develop new programmes and specialise in unique mentoring programmes for young people through our ‘Wolf Pack’ for teenage boys and ‘Wild Time’ for teenage girls.You can check out everything we offer here.
Dirt Time is delivered by the following leaders alongside a range of expert facilitators from our network.
Mark Sears - Mark worked at the intersection of creativity, strategy and sustainable innovation for 15 years until in 2013 he underwent a process of his own rewilding where it became clear to him that time spent outdoors in nature was the core component of how we might start to build regenerative communities in relationship with the living world. Since then he built The Wild Network into a thriving community of mums, dads, teachers and community activists seeking to rewild childhood. He now works as a creative catalyst, facilitator and nature connection guide on projects that lead to human rewilding; in particular exploring new ways to overcome the barriers to nature connection for communities and people who need wildness the most.
Chris Salisbury - Chris founded WildWise in 1999 after many years working as an education officer for Devon Wildlife Trust. With a background in the theatre, a training in therapy and a career in environmental education he uses every creative means at his disposal to encourage people to enjoy and value the natural world. He has worked with Ray Mears and John Rhyder, Joseph Cornell and Steve van Metre, amongst many others. He is a course facilitator at Schumacher College, where he directs the Call of the Wild Foundation programme. He is a professional storyteller aka 'Spindle Wayfarer', and is the founder and Artistic Director for the Westcountry Storytelling Festival. Chris is trained as a Be the Change facilitator and offers symposiums for interested groups.
Why do we do it?
WildWise was established in 1999 to enable deeper nature connection for everyone, to address the chronic nature-deficit-disorder that was and is, all-pervasive. With a strong conviction that nature was a vital ingredient as part of healthy living, and that nature itself needed more spokespersons, we set up an ambitious events programme to encourage everyone to cross the threshold into the outdoors to spend some meaningful time developing this nature connection. Recent research has confirmed that a separation from the natural world leads to a diminished existence. Case-studies prove that restoring this connection leads to immediate and beneficial results, on all levels, including mind, body and spirit. The bottom line is – people flourish in connection to nature. What’s more if we can create a culture of human flourishing we might be able to help the earth to flourish. We see it all the time. We want you to experience it for yourself.
Where do we do it?
We are fortunate to live and work in beautiful, wild Devon. Our events take place in some gorgeous locations on Dartmoor, (near Exeter), in the Dart river valley (near Totnes), and on the spectacular south Devon coast, (near Kingsbridge). It is our great pleasure to share our favourite wild places with you, and we are blessed to have access to some delightful and exclusive settings.
