The kids call me ‘Mr Bushcraft’! Ben Fogle reveals he’s teaching his children in how to ‘whittle wood’ and ‘make camps’ in lockdown while wife Marina oversees ‘traditional topics’
- Ben Fogle, 46, opened up about home-schooling his children during lockdown
- TV presenter and adventurer joked he was teaching them ‘bushcraft’ at home
- He said his wife Marina took care of of their children’s traditional education
- The couple moved out of their West London house to Henley-on-Thames
He’s known for his love of nature and adventure, so it is perhaps of little surprise to learn Ben Fogle is teaching ‘bushcraft’ to his children during lockdown.
The 46-year-old TV presenter and adventurer, who recently moved from London to Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, said he’s enjoying teaching Ludo, 10, and Iona, nine, how to whittle wood and spot wildlife during their time spent away from school.
Speaking to the Sunday Times magazine, Fogle, who failed his A-levels, said he’s left ‘traditional’ topics such as math and science to his wife Marina.
Ben Fogle, 46, said he was teaching his children Ludo, ten and Iona, nine, about bushcraft during lockdown at their Henley-on-Thames home, while his wife Marina cared for more traditional topics like maths and science
Fogle, who’s jokingly dubbed himself ‘Mr Bushcraft,’ said: ‘I teach how to whittle wood and make camps. I do the school of bushcraft, and Marina does the school of traditional topics.’
The adventurer, who rose to fame in by appearing in the reality show Castaway, has been putting his knowledge of the wild to good use while looking after the children for the past three months.
The adventurer said he was teaching his kids to whittle wood and make dens in the garden duing lockdown
‘We have been camping in the garden,’ he said. Offering advice to other families, he said: ‘If you don’t have a garden, make an indoor den and sleep in it.’
He also said that parents could make a pond in their garden by digging out a shallow water and filling it with water.
‘You could create a creepy-crawly hotel too,’ he suggested. ‘Find some old wood and bamboo canes and build up a structure. That will attract creatures from woodlice to large beetles. Deer, badgers, pheasants come into our garden.’
Known for his love of wildlife, Ben said he had put a camera in his garden so his children to track which nocturnal animals were paying the family a visit at night and leaving holes on their lawn.
He said parents with an old phone could also use it to record animals at night.
The father-of-two, who’s recently released children’s book Mr Dog and the Faraway Fox, is currently hosting Channel 5’s Return to the Wild.
The presenter said his family had thrived during lockdown, but admitted he would be happy to see his children head back to school