A friend once lent him a copy of Lofty's SAS Survival Handbook but he spent more time learning to make traps and snares than actual Bushcraft skills. The first book that changed this was when he bought a book titled The Survival Handbook by Raymond Mears this changed his focus from military survival to indigenous skills.

When he left home at seventeen to go and live with his Uncle in Somerset he was introduced to beach fishing a hobby that he still likes to practice whenever he is camping near or on the coast. It was in Somerset where he managed to enroll at Cannington Agricultural College through the local Dole Office and studied Horticulture GNVQ level two then the following year he studied for a National Certificate in Countryside Skills. It was this course that he got the taste for Arboricultural. It was living in Somerset that he truly got to love the countryside and all its aspects.

In his early twenties, he moved to Herefordshire and has been there ever since and this is where his passion for Bushcraft and becoming an instructor really kicked off. As living in a small rural village with access to woodlands and rivers he could go out and practice everything that he read and watched. This is when he decided to go on an actual Bushcraft Weekend Course and start looking into how to become an apprentice. This is how he found Woodland Ways just up the road in Oxfordshire and ticked all the boxes that he and his military friend were looking for, as he did not want to do a Survival weekend.

From that weekend with Woodland Ways, Andrew went on to do the 2-year Woodland Wayer Course and then the 10-day Woodland Immersion Survival Course. He is now looking at attending the I.O.L Bushcraft Competency Course and an Expedition with Woodland Ways. He has attended a Track and Sign workshop weekend with John Rhyder Woodcraft School and intends to do more courses for his cyber-tracking certificates.