Our story
Wild and Wood is about outdoor living, driven by an obsession to find a quiet place to run wild, gather and forage from the hedgerows & shoreline and seek some time to reflect & absorb how good life can be. We are based in Leicestershire, 3 hours from either coastline, but within striking distance of the Peak District, where we can be found gathering ramsons in May, paddling in streams in July and frying up sausages on the snowy hill tops in January. We are a wild at heart bunch, who love an adventure off the beaten track, camping out with a roaring fire to bake, roast and toast whatever takes our fancy, it’s by far the best means of having a good time that we can think of.
We’ve compiled a collection of kit that we would like to take with us on our adventure from fire lighters to toasting forks, camping mugs to woollen throws and a collection of oak chopping boards that we make ourselves from locally sourced timber. We’re a proficient & capable lot who like nothing better than whittling a piece of wood to make a handle for a poker or a spatula for the stew. We have designed and made some products within our workshops but also collaborate with other local studios to make well crafted products using traditional skills, techniques and materials. We hope you find the range considered and practical, and suitable for use in the garden, a weekend at the beach or in the wild & the wood.
The Journey
Apprenticed as a bricklayer, a degree in metals, knife making workshops and liquor brewing in Norway, a licence to hunt ptarmigan in Sweden, and an Arctic survival adventure with Ray Mears, results in a good balanced attitude to the big outdoors. Plus a lifetime of inspiration from a grandfather who ran away to London when he was 16 to start in the building trade, served as a despatch rider in the war and returning to building for the rest of his working life, interspersed with travel during the slack winter months. His travels took him to Kenya in the 60s, across Russia in the 70s and parts of the globe that didn’t appeal to the sightseer until very recently. Put this sense of adventure and exploration together with the dexterity and motivation to make and create you get Wild & Wood.
The Choice of Wild and Wood seemed applicable; inspired by nature, a taste for adventure and finding that the origins of our surname Tildesley, is derived from the 7th century Old English Tilweald, referring to a wood or a glade seemed even more appropriate!
John Tildesley