detecting in England

[johnnymac]

Has anyone detected in England? I understand there are two companies that offer this service to us in the states. I would like to hear pros and cons about doing this. Thank you Johnnymac

 

[NH Bob]

Sat. to Sat. up early and lunch is brought to you and hunt till 7ish. Homemade breakfast and supper. You find something good and it is appraised and to tell you the truth I forgot most of what he said but he had a great time. Hundreds of acres to hunt.

 

[LowRider]

Mike Watts from our club goes 2 or 3 times a year. He uses a guy that uses farm land in Colechester England. He is on the up an up. Works through the muesum and everthing the way it is suppose to be done. He has leased several acres of land to hunt on, The last trip a couple months ago he bagged over 750 coins and lots of buttons and stuff using his Minelab. He showed usa silver coin from 1356 that he got on a previuos hunt there. Be cautius. Some the the people that have those trips are not above board. Some will take you to a field at night and leave you there all night to hunt but they don't tell you it is illeagel because you are tresspassing because they don't even have permision to be there. Some others tell you to stick your finds in your pocket and go home bypassing the leagel route of going through the muesum. Mike also said even though the Jimmy Searra hunts are above board There has been a lot of controversy saying that he seeds his hunts for you to find.

Mike says the guy in Colechester is first rate that food and housing, guides are included and when the hunt is over he takes your finds to the meusum and the sends them to you after the bookwork is done on them.

 

[Dean (Whitby Canada)]

They have very strict "Treasure trove laws"
You must have certian items recorded and if something is Treasure Trove you have to turn it in. You will get half of it's value and the land owner gets the other half.
Coins containing a certian amount of silver or gold must be recorded as well as any coins before a certian date

here is some info

http://www.archaeology.co.uk/others/thinktank/who/tt.htm

Dean

 

[bigfootokie]

I can tell you that Jimmy Sierra provides a first rate detecting tour. He takes a group of about 25 from the motel by bus to 2 different fields a day for 8 days. These fields are between 40 and 300 acres, I would guess.
As far as seeding the hunts, not feasible due to size and number of fields hunted. Besides, there is so much old stuff to dig it's just not necessary. When some participants strayed to the wrong field (easy to do with no fences) they were doing at least as well as the rest of us in the selected fields. Of course they were not over there long before the mistake was discovered and they returned.
I have heard that the Colchester tour group was really good too. Smaller groups and B&B's instead of motel. I hope to try them someday also.
Send me a PM if you have specific questions.

Jim

 

[LowRider]

Jim if you do go to Colchester watchout if you get roomed at his mother's place. You will gain 30-40 pounds easy. Mike says she is a great cook and trys to get you to eat like a pig.

About Jimmy Sierra, I know he has been doing it for many years now and have read some nice articles about the trips. Mike Watts said some forum (I don't know wich one) some people were claiming to have seen him do it and a lot of people said they were making up stories.
Some people said they don't care if they are seeded or not. Me I wouldn't care, at least I would have a fairly level place to use my wheelchair to do something that is fun and England has a so much history.

Mike