2-day weekend
Foundations of Fieldcraft
Lord Roberts
The PioneerProgramme
Practical courses for young adults and adults ready to put down the screen and pick up the skills our grandparents took for granted: fire, shelter, tools, navigation and the quiet confidence of knowing how.
A place of solidarity and fellowship, inspired by Lord Roberts's belief in preparation, practical learning and developing people's capabilities and communities.
Our courses
Two separate pathways, taught by experienced instructors in small groups. Every course is designed to stand on its own or to build, step by step, towards real self-reliance.
Ages 16–24
Young Adults
Building confidence, competence and character. Hands-on courses that trade the feed for the fire, and teach young people to rely on themselves and each other.
5 days
Pioneer Expedition
2 days
Toolcraft & Green Woodwork
3 days
Leadership & Fellowship
Ages 25+
Adults
Relearning what our grandparents knew. Practical, grounded skills for everyday resilience at home, in the community and out on the land.
2-day weekend
Core Skills Weekend
2 days
Heritage Crafts & Self-Sufficiency
3 days
Resilience & Preparedness
6 days
Wilderness Fellowship Expedition
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October 2026
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Fieldcraft for young adults.Resilience for adults.
Modern life has given us a great deal, but it has quietly taken something too. Many of us can no longer light a fire, read a map, mend a tool or treat a wound. The Pioneer Programme exists to hand those skills back, and with them the confidence, patience and self-respect that come from being genuinely useful.
Our young adult courses give 16 to 24 year olds a place to be challenged, to lead and to belong, away from the pressure of the screen. Our adult courses are for anyone who wants to be more capable and better prepared for whatever comes, for their family, their neighbours and their community.
Above all, this is a place of solidarity and fellowship. You will arrive as strangers and leave as a crew, having shared the work, the weather and the fire.
Get in touch to talk about which course is right for you.
Our inspiration
The Pioneer Programme
The Pioneer Programme takes inspiration from Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, and his belief in the value of preparation, practical learning and developing people's capabilities. His initiatives arose in a very different time and context. The Pioneer Programme brings those principles into the present, with a civilian focus on learning, resilience and leadership.
Designed for young adults and adults, the programme aims to help people build useful skills, grow in confidence and meet change with greater resourcefulness. It creates opportunities to learn through practice, work with others and develop the judgement and adaptability that strengthen individuals, teams and communities.
The Pioneer Programme looks forward: encouraging people to discover what they can do, keep developing and contribute with purpose. It is an independent contemporary programme, inspired by aspects of Lord Roberts's legacy.
Learning
Useful skills built through practice, so confidence grows from real experience.
Resilience
Meeting change with resourcefulness, judgement and adaptability.
Leadership
Working with others and contributing with purpose to teams and communities.
Powered by the Lord Roberts Group in partnership.
Solidarity & fellowship
Life at camp
Every course ends the same way: around the fire, with people who were strangers a few days before. That shared experience is what our alumni remember most.
Field notes
We teach the skills which have been lost
Why fire, rope and a sharp knife still matter in a world of next-day delivery.
Screens down, heads up
What happens when young people spend five days without a phone, and why they ask to come back.
The resilient household
Simple, practical steps every family can take to be ready when the lights go out.
Contact
Get in touch
Whether you are thinking about a course for yourself, a young person in your family, your team or your community, we would be glad to hear from you.
Tell us a little about what you are looking for and a member of the programme team will come back to you.