My Story
Forest Horizons, Col & Sadie
Contact details...
07984123891
I'm actually called Col, I run mushroom forages and have a background in woodworking. I've always had a passion for the great outdoors and living off the land was something that inspired me as a kid. I never fitted in as a kid, was bullied at school and my escape place was the woods. I now live on a boat at a mooring under the trees in Adlington, Lancashire. It's late September right as I'm typing this and acorns are dropping on the boat like bullets! My passion is to try and do something, to do my bit, to change the world. I can't do much but I can teach about nature connections and foraging. And I can make wooden structures and hopefully earn a penny that way when its not foraging season (btw, its always foraging season, its just that spring and autumn are definitely the best foraging times of year). Sustainability is the key, I try and live by my values with solar power to charge my phone and wood to heat the boat. I do cook on gas though, its hard to be completely energy sufficient. I also drive a car but cycle when I can.. I did spend 12 years cycling on tarmac when I was a cycling instructor, riding across Manchester daily to teach road safety to adult and child cyclists and cycle awareness to lorry drivers. It ticks the sustainability box in a great way!
During the pandemic I was determined to help people get through it by talking about the importance of nature connections, but I had a huge, awful breakdown myself. My life turned upside down, I still have pieces to put back together and rebuild. But coming out of that time I met Sadie, who also loves being in the woods and foraging. It turned out that we had another thing in common - naturism, we met on a naked mushroom forage. We both love to be in the woods feeling the elements on our skin. Society does a good job of teaching us that our bodies are shameful and to be naked in front of others is so embarrassing! But why? See, I'm definitely on 'the spectrum'. I'm in the process of looking for diagnosis. I can be very literal and don't always pick up on social cue's and to me it doesn't make any sense that we should be made to feel ashamed of ourselves. We can feel ashamed of our behaviour, that's understandable and makes sense. But to feel ashamed because my body isn't as good as someone else's? That is a crazy notion that can only lead to a world of insecure people. So, combining our values of nature connections, body positivity and cycling Sadie and we teamed up with Neil and Hannah and we became the first people to cycle the whole length of the country, from John O Groats to Lands End, stark naked. We raised £6K for Rewilding Britain and MIND.
Our next adventure isn't quite as 'out there', it won't get the attention of the national press like the bike ride did, but it is far more daunting. We are both going back to school to get a Masters degree. Sadie is studying Environmental Biology with a special focus on Foraging and Sustainability, and I am studying Theatre! A special theatre course though, Theatre for Social, Political and Environmental Change. Wish us good luck, we're both finding the prospect pretty daunting!
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In the meantime, come foraging with us :D
We will probably have our clothes on, mainly because spring and autumn can be cold! But we do run naturist events also at various festivals. Oh, and lookout for the Naked Foraging Calendar! Coming soon, if I can get my ADHD brain to complete it!
