WILD TIME FOR GIRLS (11-13 YRS)
Nature based mentoring for girls.
“Full of laughs and fun, with great people and facilitators, in beautiful places – it was just AMAZING!”
event Profile
Date
27-31 MAY 2026
price
£460
Location
Dartmoor
event type
youth mentoring
Age Range
11-13 yrs
Overview
What is Wild Time?
Wild Time for Girls (11-13 years) is one of 2 camps we offer supporting girls in the 11 to 17 age range. This camp, for the younger girls, is a fun-filled 4 night adventure where girls aged between 11-13 years can meet the changes happening within themselves and their changing experience of the world.
Our nature based programme will bring us together as a tribe, to explore the magical woods, moor and river. We will learn to play, communicate, and share together in the challenges and joys of outdoor living, and discover the wonders of the wilderness.
What will we be doing?
During our 5 days together, we will explore the land by day and night, have adventures and challenge ourselves with new outdoor skills & experiences. Learn bushcraft, play games, get creative with art and crafts, share stories around the campfire, forage, cook on the fire and sleep under open, star-filled skies (to name a few)! Our programme also includes moorland hiking and navigation, bushcraft, fire-lighting, river knowledge, and culminating in an exciting challenge. This is a chance to have a spring adventure, make new friends, and have experiences you will never forget.
How will the camp be?
This is a relatively small programme – typically for between 8-12 girls. This encourages the group to gel and helps the girls to feel supported and develop a sense of community.
Where will we be?
Our private venue is a wild riverside meadow on Dartmoor near to Newbridge. The facilities are basic; shelter and toilet tents are temporarily erected for the duration of the camp. Full details and directions will be made available after booking.
Why choose WildWise?
WildWise has been leading the field in nature connection for over 25 years. We bring exciting and diverse programmes to encourage everyone to spend time outdoors, to reap wellbeing benefits for themselves and for the conservation of the natural world around them.
WildWise was established in 1999 to address chronic nature-deficit-disorder. Research has confirmed that separation from nature leads to a diminished existence and case-studies have evidenced that restoring this connection provides immediate and beneficial results.
Why now?
Young people’s mental health and wellbeing has never been so important – we hear much about the crisis of mental health among teenagers and recent UK statistics (young minds UK) show just how big the problem. This is mirrored globally. The challenges and worries of Gen Z in some ways (e.g. social media, climate change, covid) may be unique but these sit alongside the typical developmental challenges which come with this stage of life.
Why Wild Time?
Developed by experienced guides and outdoorswomen over years of working with youth in the outdoors, Wild Time helps girls enter adolescence with strength and self-confidence. Offering the right balance of play, adventure and creativity, the programme combines outdoor adventure and connection with space to develop a variety of interpersonal skills and inner resources, to help them navigate the complexity of becoming a teen in these challenging times. It is a rare opportunity to begin to acknowledge the move away from childhood and towards young womanhood in a supported way.
We hope this programme will be a powerful gift of resilience for the girls to carry back home, to support challenges that may show up in the years ahead.
Fees & concessions
Cost for 2026 5 day programme £460
Subject to the economy of the programme (and meeting our minimum number of full fee paying places) we may be able to extend 2 x up to 50% concessionary places to families who need that support, subject to application. Please email us to enquire and make an application. We also invite donations to help support this.
Meet the Leaders/Q&A Session
We ran an online zoom event in April 2025. Please complete an enquiry form here to request a link to the recording.
What's Included
- Bushcraft & survival skills
- Play, crafting & movement
- Time immersed in nature
- All activities & field equipment
- Main meals & refreshments
- A wild inspiration for change
Essential Information
Katie Rowan
Katie Rowan has led groups of children, teens and adults in nature and land based education for over 10 years. Training as a forest school leader in 2005 she went on to deliver transformational land based programmes for four years at Embercombe in Devon and more recently spent three years as a therapeutic educator at Ruskin Mill college in Gloucesstershire. Katie works as a mentor for teenage girls in her local community witnessing the challenges faced by young women as they navigate the adolescent journey and the immense power and potential held in this stage of life.
In 2015 Katie went out to California to train as a vision quest guide with the School of Lost Borders deep in the Mojave Desert. Since then she has assisted and lead a number of vision fasts guiding people in ceremony to transition from one stage in their lives to another.
Alongside this work Katie has pursued an interest in primitive living skills taking her deeper into nature and her connection to the wild. Katie loves putting on her pack and being immersed in wild places, marking the seasons, foraging and making. She is passionate about developing community and its role in honouring the important thresholds of our lives. Katie loves sitting around a fire with people sharing songs, music and stories.
Abi Jones
Born and raised in Devon, Abi has been guiding Wild Time camps for over six years, creating playful, joy-filled spaces where young people and women can connect with themselves and the natural world. She runs a girls’ nature connection group and leads camps across Devon and Cornwall, blending bushcraft, rites of passage, and nature-based learning to nurture confidence, curiosity, and inner wisdom. Abi has also worked with River School, paddling down the River Dart and supporting young people to explore rivers, forests, and wild places.
She is part of a rewilding group on Moorbarton and has taken part in multiple wildlife tracking experiences, including tracking wolves in the Białowieża Forest in Poland, bears in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, and spending time learning from the landscape and wildlife of the Kalahari Desert. Abi has also travelled widely, discovering inspiring natural spaces and experiences that continue to shape and deepen her work with young women.
An avid surfer and lifelong Dartmoor enthusiast, her style is rooted in play, wonder, and joy—supporting people to reconnect with themselves, each other, and the land.
The event will start at 2pm on Day 1 and finish at 2pm on Day 5
Full joining instructions including a kit list will be provided on booking. Essentials will include:
- A tent and sleeping gear (sleeping bag/mat/blanket) NB Tents may be hired on request
- Headtorch, torch & spare batteries
- Clothes for all weathers – waterproof outers recommended plus lots of layers & spares
- Robust footwear including walking boots, wellies and trainers
- Notebook & pen
This event will take place at our private riverside meadow located near Newbridge on Dartmoor.
Full joining instructions will be provided on booking. The approximate location is shown in the map below.
All main meals & refreshments are included. We cater for most diets including vegetarian & vegan. You may need to bring food for any other special diets, plus snacks & any luxury foods.
As the details for 2026 are now confirmed click here to instantly reserve a place with a reservation deposit.
If you have any queries you can submit a booking enquiry form here.
General booking notes:
A £100 non-refundable reservation deposit to secure your girl’s place. If within 4 weeks of the event you will be asked to pay the fees in full.
WildWise CIC aims to subsidise up to 2 places on the programme up for up to 50% of the fees. This offer is subject to the economy of the programme i.e. relies on a minimum number of full fee paying places. Concession offers will be considered and awarded based on financial need and will be subject to application.