Steve's 2018 UK Adventure

[Bob'ke]

Hi Steve,

Great adventure and great story. Very informative too.

I'm all charged to go out detecting again soon. ?

Thanks for posting and congratulations on your gold (and other) finds! ? 

Greetings,

Bob'ke

 

[Steve Herschbach]

I took photos as I could along the way. Here are the better ones in the order in which I took them with some notes.

The farm fields we hunted were mostly planted with wheat for the fall/winter but many had signs of having been planted with potatoes or small patches of onions or carrots over the summer. Some fields are in "stubble" which is nothing more than mowed down wheat stalks in most cases. The stubble is harder to hunt when dry but affords a refuge during rainy weather as the stalks soften up and the ground is not muddy like the fresh plowed fields.

The plowed fields can be deep plowed and very rough. They get plowed/processed again for a finer finish but still loose and lumpy. Some get processed yet again it appears to a very fine flat finish but it may be just the consistency of the soil I am seeing that creates the finer finish on the first go. The fields get planted and then "rolled" to compact, and they sprayed with fertilizers and/or insecticides. I am no expert on all this, just trying to get the idea across. We hunted all the various phases and the wheat can be hunted until too deep to swing a coil though. All the farmers have differing levels of tolerance for detecting activity depending on the state of the fields and the hunt managers keep tabs on all that for the group. Bottom line rolled or planted fields made for the easiest walking. The newly deep plowed land could literally break ankles, and the fluffier, rougher stuff is somewhere in between. It is just fine but I did notice at the end of the day I was more tired from walking on it. Here is a photo of a loose and lumpy field...

Hunting a lumpy farm field

Driving is not just about driving on the other side of the road. I can handle that. The parking and navigation laws are near non-existent compared to the U.S. The basic rule is you have the right-of-way while in your lane. And you can park almost any way you want as long as one lane is left open. This means one lane is often blocked. the open lane has the right of way, and if you are in the blocked lane you want, then dart out and make a dash for the next open area in your own lane. It feels like a game of chicken at times, but the person in the wrong lane must always give way, even if it means backing up.

People park forward or backwards, and often halfway up on the curb -whatever. These lanes were designed for horses at most, and bless the Brits they leave it all be and just cooperate as best they can to deal with it. In the U.S. we would raze it all and build a superhighway. I admit I kind of prefer the English way of dealing with limited land and cultural resources. It in the end adds to the charm of it all, though it can be frustrating when you run into a rude and aggressive type who tries to intimidate others to get the right-of-way.

Ron is a fire engine driver and therefore his skill level at navigating this stuff vastly exceed my ability to watch it all for a couple days. I had no problem being in the back of the bus at all times, securely strapped in! 

Notice cars parked in lane facing both ways, view from normal left lane driving

Now we are in the "wrong lane" with oncoming traffic. The oncoming has the right of way, and we are going to dive into the little opening on the left so they can continue on. Then pop out and make a mad dash for the next open stretch. Very exciting!

Navigating the narrow streets

Downtown Manningtree. I think squiggly lines mean no parking.

Mindy getting supplies at classic English butcher shop. She is a great cook!

Misty morning, damp field

[Steve Herschbach]

My understanding is that it is illegal to convert farmland into subdivisions in England like we do in the U.S. because the farmland is too limited and of value to the country. The island is not getting any bigger! Therefore farm owners often convert barns into apartments available for lease ,which is convenient since we are metal detecting on farm lands. Here is the place we stayed for my first leg of the trip, and the van that Mindy drove us around in.

"Barn hunt" home for ten days

Living room / commons area

This barn actually has fields we can hunt within walking distance, good for the last day when time is short. Surprisingly for an island less than one sixth the size of my home state of Alaska, Great Britain still has some wide open vistas. There is far more open country than I would have imagined.

Some views go on forever

Drive by view of St Osyth's Priory, an abbey founded in 1121, undergoing renovation. The group would have killed to hunt inside the wall enclosed abbey grounds and surrounding park!

St Osyth's Priory

Some English homes

This is the excavation where I found my Celtic gold. One dig with the spade and out. Most finds only take a turn of the shovel but some needed more digging. The main thing is holes MUST be filled in a good fashion or fields access can be lost. Dispose of all trash properly - that often meant nearby ditches.

Just one turn of the spade and Treasure!

Wheat rows sprouting

[Steve Herschbach]

12th Century St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Bromley open to the public

Amazing stained glass interior

More stained glass

And one more

Early vintage Mini Cooper

I did not find it but I got to hold Mindy's stater fresh out of the ground - wow!!

English sunset at end of long day hunting

English garden - do make time to stop and smell the flowers!

 

[Steve Herschbach]

View from "Bunker Hill"

Weather for October - great, as it can actually snow! Temps in F

My ten days with Mindy came to an end and I moved to a new barn to be with Ron's incoming group. The first barn was "country casual". This one has been renovated to more "ultra modern". Very nice upstairs but no photos. My wife would like this place. I opted to stay on a fold out bed downstairs because I want to sleep as cool as possible. It was also very private as I had it all to myself and could get up before the rest of the folks and get some coffee going. 

Kitchen at "Ron's Barn"

My "room" - just right for Steve!

Another picture of my 1.03 gram "gold sheet"

One nice thing as far as travel is that long handle spades are provided. This reduces too much bending over digging thousands of targets. I normally could pinpoint and get target with one dig, but if I got in too much hurry would miss with the big coil. It's worth that extra few seconds to walk around the target and get a good target center. I also found the nose of the large Equinox coil to be a terrific pinpointer for nudging in the pile of dirt, just tilt the coil and poke around with nose down. It worked well as is or using the pinpoint mode. Then grab that handful and wave over coil. I got good enough at this I abandoned using a separate pinpointer the last week. For small targets grabbing a handful and waving over the coil was more efficient than trying to find the small lead and copper bits that only signal at an inch with a handheld pinpointer. When done kick soil into hole, stomp, and smooth.

Digging tools provided

Night out - manors along road in Dedham, England

Steve playing Dr. Who. The booth was full of cobwebs but still had a dial tone!

The Marlborough Pub in Dedham

The menu - price in English pounds

It was fun to go out and visit several pubs for dinner to see a little bit of the towns and have the local experience. This is on top of any money paid for the trips and is optional; a person can stay back at the barn and fend for themselves if desired, except for the rare "go straight from fields to pub" situation. Food ranges from "ok" to excellent. The main thing is never be in a hurry. We always got seated quickly (reservations) but a long wait to order, a long wait for food... basically you have entered a slower pace of life. Just go with it and enjoy the company and surroundings.

Letting dinner settle....

Beautiful English manor next to field we hunted, grounds immaculately groomed

[Happa54]

Amazing adventure Steve and thanks for sharing. You had me captivated through the whole read and pics. A dream vacation hunt for me as well.

Congrats on all those awesome finds!!!!

 

[RickUK]

Although i live and detecting here in the UK,it was exceptionally interesting reading your indepth report on your visit....must admit i rather enjoyed reading that and also the images that you posted....quality review Steve.

Have found a few gold staters over the years including full and quarter ones,the main ones being the Whaddon chase version from 55bc,when these are dug out it really gets your heart pumping with all the excitment that it brings,must admit i did find that small piece of gold interesting and wondering if it was something that has come of a larger item caused by plough damage,i would have spent hours methodically doing that area as something could have been nice found in that location.

A great read and really enjoyed your vacation adventure.

[Steve Herschbach]

Thanks Happ54, do consider just doing it. My two story threads and links have all the info needed. Ok, last set of photos....

Typical lunch in the field

I do like hunting in the vicinity of the old churches, as at minimum you know there has been a lot of activity in the area dating back to the building of the church, and likely far earlier. St. Peter's, Great Totham is a beautiful structure and grounds surrounded by huge fields. I had visions of finding a religious medallion perhaps, but this day was a tough hunt for us all, with my best find of day a milled silver sixpence.

13th century St. Peter's Church, Great Totham

Tim (Ill Digger on forum) in front of vicarage at St. Peter's

St. Peter's at sunset

Somehow 16 solid days of detecting flew by, and the sun set on the last day of the hunt. Season over for everyone, no more detecting until February 2019. As I noted before Tim made a fabulous find this last day, but I want him to have the fun of telling his own story about that. No matter what, a thrilling end to a picture perfect trip. It really does not get better than this. Metal detecting can bring you adventure as near as your backyard, or at locations around the world, but whether near of far the excitement and potential for great finds is always there. I do hope you have all enjoyed my tale. Thanks for reading and do share with anyone considering such a trip or who wonders why we all do this. I made a rare Facebook post to make it easy to share with you friends. Again, thanks for reading!

The sun sets on the perfect metal detector adventure!

Once in a lifetime find

 

[Steve Herschbach]

8 minutes ago, RickUK said:

Although i live and detecting here in the UK,it was exceptionally interesting reading your in depth report on your visit....must admit i rather enjoyed reading that and also the images that you posted....quality review Steve.

Have found a few gold staters over the years including full and quarter ones,the main ones being the Whaddon chase version from 55bc,when these are dug out it really gets your heart pumping with all the excitement that it brings,must admit i did find that small piece of gold interesting and wondering if it was something that has come of a larger item caused by plough damage,i would have spent hours methodically doing that area as something could have been nice found in that location.

A great read and really enjoyed your vacation adventure.

Hi Rick,

Many thanks mate! You are very fortunate to be surrounded by such incredible history. I actually did spend most of the next day methodically gridding the area where I found that gold bit, hoping for more, but all I got was the normal pile of lead and various widgets like watch winders.

Good on you and the staters. Celtic gold fascinates me because the artwork is very much a "New Age Modern" look that is quite unexpected given the time frame.

The nice thing about visitors is they often remind us how special the places are where we live. Alaska was like that for me. I had to stop and remind myself sometimes that my everyday experiences would be very exceptional for those living the city life, for example. In your country the sheer age is astounding. Every day I found things dating back to before the U.S. became a country or was even discovered. We had dinner one evening across from the house where the captain of the Mayflower lived. It is very hard to get my head around all the history but I enjoy every second of it.

[oldmancoyote1]

Watch winders?  So that's what I threw away last month.  I thought it must be some kind of junk part.