The Author

About me

Who are you Sylvain Thomassin?

I was 20 when I started working as a nature guide, I’m now 70, and I’ve never stopped doing it, working with a wide variety of people: holiday families, baby walkers, teenagers from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, executives at company seminars, schoolchildren, the psychomotor impaired, etc. I’ve always done it in different ways: outdoor or indoor workshops, weekly nature clubs, walks or hikes with overnight stays in bivouacs, teepees, caravans or gîtes, big games, interactive exhibitions and training courses for social workers; but also writing books, trail guides or freelance work for various newspapers, and even ten years of radio broadcasts for France-Bleu. All on a freelance or contract basis.

Sylvain Thomassin

parcours professionnel

How did you train?

Both my training and my skills are entirely focused on nature as a place to learn, play, recharge and share. In this way, I hope to make the most of the present moment for each of my guests, in harmony with the surrounding environment and the other members of the group. I have a basic knowledge of biology and ecology, having studied with Jean-Marie Pelt at the Institut européen d’écologie in Metz, but I have drawn on the knowledge of professional and amateur ethnologists, most of whom specialise in botany, zoology, folk medicine and rural and outdoor crafts. I’d happily mention Jean-Jacques Marquart, Pierre Lieutaghi or Colette Méchin, but there are many others. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting people in the field who are passionate about Amerindian or prehistoric cultures, and others who are passionate about wild cuisine or carving, the art of using a penknife to make things out of branches. I have also carried out a number of action-research projects, particularly in the field of educational action and educational mediation in the natural environment, all of which have been validated by the University of Strasbourg.

What role does elderberry play in your professional activities?

Ephemeral toys, DIY and life in the great outdoors are at the heart of my activities, and I take advantage of the many resources offered by the natural environment, but three plants are particularly dear to me:

Hazel, the ideal basis for tree house frames and a host of useful and trivial objects.
Oregano, from which I've already made hectolitres of fresh herb tea.
Elderberry, the young branches of which have been used to make thousands of kazoos for children, teenagers and adults who are delighted to give concerts afterwards, or to mime mermaids and firecrackers. I've also called on the shrub many times for its flowers, which are made into fritters and syrup, for its berries, which are used in cookery workshops or for gentle self-medication, and for its dead stems, which become flying arrows as soon as they are harvested, unless they are used to light a fire by percussion. Above all, the shrub has often been the subject of my passionate comments during guided walks, a habit that one mischievous child summed up so well: « When Sylvain talks about elderberry, it's for a long time! »

Advice, project studies, activities, training
Contact: 06 76 31 12 72
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Sylvain Thomassin
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The Author

Who are you Sylvain Thomassin?

How did you train?

What role does elderberry play in your professional activities?