Andrew Davidson (Kent Survival) – Detailed Biography

Andrew Davidson is a popular outdoor YouTuber.

He has over 870K subscribers on his YouTube channel, Kent Survival.

Introduction

Andrew Davidson was born on 5 November 1979 and hails from Kent, England, United Kingdom.

He didn’t initially realize the beauty of the outdoors as he grew up in an urban space. But his love for the outdoors started when he moved to live in a house near heathland.

He was a Beaver Scout followed by a Cub Scout for a brief period of time.

Andrew, in his mid-teens, along with his friends, used to spend a lot of time in the woods doing outdoor activities like building shelters and camping.

They used to sleep in the sleeping bags in the open air and used to move under trees for cover during rains. They didn’t have tarps, mats and tents.

As Andrew grew in pre-internet times, he used to play with Citizens Band (CB) radio. He was also interested in tattoos but later lost interest in them.

Animation & filmmaking

Andrew studied 3D animation, design and filmmaking in the university. He wanted to enter the film industry and become a film director.

He worked as a freelance animator for Natural History Museum, London. He also did a few other projects but eventually lost interest in animation.

The video editing experience later came in handy when he became a YouTuber.

Landscape photographer

Andrew became a landscape photographer in his twenties. He used to travel around Kent, camp in the woods and in historic abandoned locations and wait for the perfect timings to capture sunrises and sunsets.

His job also took him to the Peak District National Park and Cornish coastline and he developed an interest in survival prepping which later inspired him to become an outdoor YouTuber.

Love for BBQ

Andrew became a vegetarian at 18 and was forced to learn cooking for himself but eventually, he fell in love with cooking and got a few cookbooks.

Even though he was a vegetarian for just a couple of years, his love for cooking didn’t diminish.

Andrew worked in a couple of kitchens and fell in love with barbecue and went on to start a barbecue catering company in the early 2010s.

He used to make and sell spices and sauces under the brand Smokey Davidsons and do pop-up restaurants in pubs where he, as a pitmaster, used to smoke ribs and make pork briskets.

Andrew was the only person working in the business and the workload was high.

Later he needed funds to scale his business but he got cold feet and was burnt out and shut down his business.

Then, Andrew started doing carpentry work, for his friend, where he used to build wooden shelters for playgrounds, A-frames, benches and playground boats and ships for schools.

Kent Survival

Closing his barbecue business even after working hard burned him out and made him feel discouraged.

Andrew wasn’t motivated to work on any other thing and wanted to spend time on himself, get back to nature, camp and do bushcraft.

As he was inspired by the videos of Bear Grylls, Ray Mears, Les Stroud and Ed Stafford, he started his YouTube channel, Kent Survival, on 20 November 2016.

Andrew christened his channel Kent Survival as he was based in Kent.

He started his channel, by combining his love for outdoors, photography and cooking, as he felt that it would motivate him to go outdoors and learn new skills.

Eventually, Andrew fell in love with video production and started putting more effort into his YouTube channel.

Even though he loved filming and editing, initially, he didn’t feel comfortable talking to the camera for a year and then he became comfortable.

Andrew became a full-time YouTuber, in 2020, as his income from YouTube, although small, overtook his income from his carpentry gig. He never looked back since.

His channel took off when he published a video of himself cooking breakfast on a rock. A year later when he published a similar video, it performed better than the first one.

Currently, Andrew has 870K subscribers on his channel.

He has over 76K subscribers on his second YouTube channel, Kent Survival Gear & Review. He started this channel after he grew tired of watching YouTubers review outdoor products without testing them outdoors.

Gear

Andrew started with a Canon 550D camera. But as it didn’t have autofocus, he bought a second camera, a Panasonic Camcorder HC-V210 and started filming videos with these two cameras.

Later, he upgraded from the Canon 550D to a Canon EOS M3, RØDE VideoMic Pro and tripod.

Currently, Andrew uses a Panasonic Lumix G9 and DJI Action camera and a DJI Mini drone.

He edits his videos with Final Cut Pro on his Mac.

Restarting

Andrew restarted selling sauces, in 2024, under his brand Kent Survival.

He bought back his signature sauces, Bourbon and Chipotle BBQ Sauce, Mango Habanero Hot Sauce and Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce.

His first recipe was Bourbon Chipotle BBQ Sauce. It took him years of trials, tastings and cookouts to develop this sauce.

Andrew also sells mugs, merchandise and spice blends through his website.

Locations

He lives in an area with no open land which makes camping difficult.

Even though camping in Dartmoor National Park is possible, it’s difficult for him as he can’t carry axes and start fires there.

But being a YouTuber allowed Andrew to camp as he made connections with foresters, hunters and people with woodlands and estates.

He bought an ancient woodland in 2025.

He doesn’t enjoy camping in urban areas.

Trucks

Andrew bought a Mitsubishi L200 Warrior truck, nicknamed Xena, before starting on YouTube.

He drove it to the Peak District National Park where he camped and did photography.

Then Andrew got a Ford Ranger truck and later got a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder Aventura truck.

He prefers older truck models than the newer ones as he doesn’t like gadgets, gizmos and tracking in the newer trucks.

Favourites

Some of Andrew’s favourite camping and bushcraft YouTube channels are Joe Robinet, My Self Reliance, Simon, a bloke in the woods, Cowboy Kent Rollins, Corporals Corner, Nagualero and carlisle195.

I’ve also published the stories of Joe Robinet, My Self Reliance, Corporals Corner and Cowboy Kent Rollins.

He also watches smaller channels like MDM Outdoor Adventures and Lundy’s Wildcamp Bushcraft.

Personal life

Andrew has a girlfriend, Magda.

She prefers camping in summer, unlike him, as she is from a hotter climate.

Andrew lives in Kent.

Tidbits

• Andrew is an introvert and enjoys camping, bushcrafting and cooking alone.
• He loves cooking tomahawk steak while camping. He loves tikka masala, is obsessed with tacos and loves making corn tortillas.
• Andrew never served in the military and is a fan of heavy metal music especially the Blues. His favourite metal bands are Megadeth, Prong and Metallica. He loves Megadeth’s “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” and “Hangar 18” songs.
• He also likes classic rock and Led Zeppelin album covers.
• Andrew is a foodie and loves Mexican food and Tex-Mex. He doesn’t eat seafood.
• He gets the recipe ideas from researching dishes, visiting countries and his barbecue catering experience.
• His favourite camping spot is Dartmoor as he likes its openness and remoteness. This cat person also enjoys camping in Woodland.
• Andrew loves camping in the autumn but hates camping in the summer heat. For him, autumn is the perfect time of the year because as the temperature drops, he can feel the benefit of the fire. Also, the season is colourful thanks to the greenery.
• His dream is to camp in Canada’s boreal forest and Scotland.

So, how are you inspired by the success story of Andrew Davidson?

Share with me in the comment section below.