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Former Mechanic Says He's 'Living The Dream' As Modern Day Caveman

Former Mechanic Says He's 'Living The Dream' As Modern Day Caveman

Will Lord felt stifled in his own home and now spends as much time outdoors as he possibly can

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

A former mechanic is now 'living the dream' as a modern day caveman. Watch him explain why he adopted the alternative lifestyle here:

Will Lord lives a paradoxical lifestyle: one day he's hunting deer and eating their hearts, the next he's riding around on his Harley-Davidson; one moment he's daubing his face with red ochre, the next he's on a Zoom call with a journalist.

The 51-year-old, who features on tonight's (14 September) episode of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, grew up in Grime's Graves - a vast Neolithic flint mine in Norfolk, which served as his formative playground.

But when his family moved away from the heritage site when he was 17, Will was forced into the 'real world'. He got a job as a mechanic, before working at a timber factory and as a scaffolder. He also found himself a wife.

However, his passion for the outdoors and prehistory never waned, and the highly skilled flint knapper began teaching and holding prehistoric survival workshops.

Will is happiest when he's living his caveman life.
Channel 5

His classes proved extremely popular, and 15 years ago he went full-time.

Over the years though, Will began to feel like a fake, and he was increasingly drawn to the lifestyle he spent his days teaching others about.

Feeling stifled in his own home, he moved out into a 'pop up cave' near Bury St Edmonds about two years ago.

Now he spends his days split between there, his house and a 'giant molehill', or Earth Lodge, built on the Duke of Grafton's Euston Estate in Suffolk.

The 'giant molehill' Will calls home.
Channel 5

Necessities - such as organising workshops and seeing his girlfriend - bring him back to his house, but he's never happier than when he's living his caveman life.

"There's bird song, there's movement, there's green, there's lush, there's ambience," he told LADbible.

"Now, I know you can fill a house full of love, and a house full of trophies, and a house full of whatever, but to me, the walls are a barrier between the natural flow of the Earth."

Will feels at one with the outdoors.
Channel 5

Reflecting on his time spent living outdoors in Spain, Will continued: "I was going around all of these different landscapes, and this might sound a funny thing to say, but to me it's the truth - I started to feel different caves, started to feel different mountains.

"I carried on with that journey and I could honestly say that I started to tune back into the soul of the Earth, and the more I could hear it, the more suffocated I felt when I went into a shoe box of a house.

"It's a bit like a sore in my soul, so I sort of had to push it away and say, 'Well, I don't really need that anyway'."

Somewhat counterintuitively though, it is social media which has enabled Will to live his dream lifestyle.


He said: "I've arrived at a point now which is as close to what my dream could ever be is... But the thing about it is, social media has actually given me the freedom to become this.

"I've got a really nice healthy following on the three platforms - you know, the Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - and that brings people to my website, and that brings people on the courses.

"So that means that money is travelling across my palms. Otherwise, if I didn't have that, I'd have to go to work."

Even cavemen have gotta be big on the Gram these days then, it seems.

Who knows, maybe after his forthcoming TV appearance he could be on his way to becoming the first ever caveman influencer.

You can find out more about Will's story on Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, which airs on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm. You can also catch up later on My5.

Featured Image Credit: Channel 5

Topics: Interesting, Community, Weird