• Metal detecting holidays in England with the World's most successful metal detecting club.

    Twinned with Midwest Historical Research Society USA

     

    Testimonial Page- What the guys thought of their trip and their features in detecting magazines

    Updated 31st Jan 2023

     

    Louisiana Ashley's May 2018 Hunt recap page

     

      I have been a member of the Colchester Treasure Hunting Club for several years and have been on 11 trips so far.  This is the best foreign metal detecting adventure available to you.  Unlike most of the world, the laws in England are fair and make it possible for you to bring home some truly unique and fabulous finds.  The club has exclusive rights to detect hundreds of fields and more are constantly being added.  Almost every field in this area of England has had human activity from the bronze age, Celts, Romans, Saxons, maybe Vikings, and middle ages people right up until today.
      The Club is run in a very professional and completely above board manner by one of the most knowledgeable experts on relics in England.  All paper work and export forms are taken care of for you as part of the tour.  This is not a one-off trip.  You are joining a club of great guys and superb detectorist who are there to have fun and fine treasure.

    Bruce Brothers

    June 2018

    My husband Dennis & I have made 14 trips to England to metal detect with Colchester Treasure Hunting and know you won't find a better run metal detecting tour in all of England.These trips are extremely exciting and addictive.  I mean just look at the website!  Everything is on there from the places we stay to the thousands of acres we hunt.  All notable finds that have been made by all of the club members through the years are shown on this website.  Photos, news, history of the area and anything you need to know about joining this group is included as well.
         Dennis & I have made many wonderful finds over the years including coins and artifacts dating from the stone age all the way through to the present.  A beautiful stone axe, Medieval dagger quillon, hammered & milled gold coins, hundreds of hammered silver coins, Roman votive statue, Saxon silver coins, tokens from every era and list goes on & on.  I have even been lucky enough to find the club’s ‘Find of the Year’ with a beautiful Medieval gold annular brooch!
         The places we stay and the people we meet are wonderful.  Lots & lots of great food including breakfast, lunch (brought out to the field) and amazing dinners. 
         If asked what I think is the most exciting part of the trip I would have to say that being able to choose which fields you want to hunt each and every day is the best.  Since Dennis & I have been going on these hunts for so many years we know where some of the best areas to hunt are and where some of the best finds have been made.  We get to hunt in fields that contained Roman settlements, Medieval fair sites and Georgian Manor houses.  Every field has the potential to turn up an amazing find.  I’m not sure exactly how many farms and fields there are as each year more get added but there has to be thousands of acres to choose from. 
         The fields are usually in very good condition for metal detecting (plowed & rolled).  Yes you do have to battle the elements such as rain, snow, wind and mud but that is all part of the experience.  The sun does show up fairly often. It doesn’t really matter as it’s all good when you are finding awesome stuff.
         We highly recommend Colchester Treasure Hunting if you are thinking of metal detecting in England.  Just make sure you are a serious metal detectorist because that is pretty much all you will be doing besides eating and sleeping.  You will be hunting with like-minded people who love doing the same thing you do.
         We can’t wait for our next trip in 2019!!!!!!

    Christy June 2018

    If you are interested in a detecting adventure of a lifetime try England. I've been a dozen times and it is always a blast with incredible finds. I've booked most of my trips with Lucky Mindy who is one of the barn leaders. She's Knowledgeable about the fields and actually helps in securing new fields. Our teams usually consist of 7 hunters and we all have a tremendous time with a lot of good finds and a lot of good laughs. I have made some of my best friends while over there and those friendships have carried back over here in the States.Mindy is a tremendous cook which is icing on the cake. If you want to see some of my many England finds go to my website and click on "England Finds". Check them out at FloridaRob.com.

     

    From Oregon Mary and Clarence:
    We have joined Mindy’s Barn Hunts ten times over the years. Her passion for metal detecting is contagious and her knowledge of the fields and what has been found there is extensive. Since new fields are added every year, there is a lot to keep up with. Small groups of seven eat together, live together, and detect together. We have made life long friends from the U.S., Canada and the U.K.through these Colchester adventures.

    Mindy is a terrific cook with hot breakfast and comfort food dinner on the table every day. We each make our own sandwiches for lunch so you can have what you like. She doesn’t skimp on the food so you are fueled and ready for the next day of detecting. She does all the cooking, shopping and driving.

    We usually hunt ten hour days but if you are on a field you’re not ready to leave, depending on how far away it is, she will come back and pick you up later. Not up to those long days? No problem. The van is at the field if you need a snack break, nap, or to get out of the weather. Mindy wants to give you every opportunity to find something special. There is a lot of good natured ribbing, tall tales and excitement when any one makes a great find. After joining Mindy for a detecting holiday, you will be counting the days for your return adventure. 

    From California Jim:

    Cal Jim --Colchester member since 2007 and frequent member of Mindy’s barn hunts

    The excitement begins when I book this trip,  when I commit to returning to my favorite metal detecting place on earth.  Every morning I wake up with a sense of joy that I know that no matter what each day throws at me,  I can get through it,  as soon I will be in the fields of Colchester metal detecting.  It does seem like a long time between booking, to actually departing for the trip.   And I make lots of check-lists of all the items I will need,  and make sure my gear is all top order,  and try and get myself in a little better shape physically.  The anticipation is wonderfully fantastic.  And then all of sudden,  it's time for the trip.  That came quickly,  I hope I didn't forget anything.

    The other testimonials you will read,  will do a wonderful job covering the 'nuts and bolts' of the trip.  I'd like to address this club.  I have been metal detecting with my family since I was a little boy.  This Colchester Club,   Family,  is unlike any hunting I have ever done before.  It is a true Club in every sense of the word.   When you arrive at the meeting spot the first morning,  you are greeted by a group of strangers (or returning friends) with whom you are instantly connected as you share an agonizingly long (yet relatively short ride) from London to Colchester.  Some of these people may just become lifelong friends. 

    In the Club,  everything we do is about helping each other become better detectorists.  From detector settings, to gear we use, to recovery techniques and speed,  we want everyone to have a great hunt.  And as a returning member,  I know that the best thing I can continue to do is listen to others and continue to learn.  The attitude should always be upbeat,   and we are genuinely happy for each others success and great finds.  The more positive the attitude, the more we work as a team to hotspot fields,  the better experience we have,  and the usually,  the better finds we make.

    The Colchester metal detecting experience is my absolute favorite vacation destination.  The hours are long,  but there has never been a morning I haven't leaped out of bed.  Sometimes it feels like the great finds aren't forthcoming, but every experienced detectorist knows that the difference between a mediocre day on finds and an epic day,  is just one swing of the coil;  just one dug hole can make a whole trip.  But the truth is,  I do just love being out in the fields on a misty morning with the sun trying to break through the clouds,  thinking about the history of where I am,  and the people who lived there. Great finds are just the icing on the cake.  The real treasure is the experience and the friends made.

    From Cal Gail:

    I have been on many detecting trips with Mindy.  What I like most is that she lets you do you own thing.  If you are tired or just feeling up to it, you can just hang out.  I also like that the van is always available for inclement weather or whatever.   Plus she cooks a great breakfast and dinner! 

     

     

    Jimmy and Robann Koenig - March 2018

    We’ve been on many hunts. This was our first time hunting England, and hunting with Chicago Ron was a golden experience. The comradery of fellow hunters was welcoming, very helpful, and we never felt left behind. Chicago Ron and the other hunters on our week had excellent knowledge of the area and the finds. They helped us in every way, from detectors to relic knowledge.
    Anyone who wants a full England Relic Experience...
    We extremely highly recommend Chicago Ron (and the team members who go on his trips). Thanks for the Best Relic hunting Experience that we’ll never forget. Ready to come back!!!

    Jimmy & Robann Koenig



    Florida Stan - October 2015

    Well I just returned from the detecting trip of a life time with Chicago Ron and 5 other diehard detectorists in Colchester, England and feel compelled to share the experience. I have been asked dozens of time “what was it like” and have come up with the following analogy:*The experience is a bit like a week of Christmas mornings.*Picture yourself on 10 football fields.*On those fields are 200 Christmas presents addressed to you.*It could be a coin, piece of old copper or lead, something cool, old or rare.*Could be what I have dubbed the “pull tab of England”, the notorious flat button (there are plenty of those to go around) and lets of course not forget GOLD!*You just never know (well maybe have some idea if you’ve learned your machine) what the roll of the dirt will reveal.*My first find was an odd small metal “T” shaped thing that was John Deer Green.*A broken part to a tractor I thought, but keeping mindful of what I was told, “toss EVERYTHING into your pouch”.*I did so and moved on later to find out it was a 2nd century Roman Fibular Broch.*Great, now I’m the “tractor part” guy.*No worries all that was taken in stride with plenty of good natured ribbing and I quickly discovered that it was all about the hunt and sharing that adventure and fellowship with my barn mates and not who was the most knowledgeable.*If you’re a fan of one liner movie quotes like I am, you’re in for a treat as they are woven into the lexicon of daily conversations.*The detecting was just as billed.*Grueling, exhausting, intense FUN!*Up at 6 a.m. in the van by 7 and on a field by 7:30 – 8:00 depending on where we went, stopping at dark.*Wake up next morning and repeat.*Now that’s a groundhogs day I can live with.*Ron and the returning members were very knowledgeable and eager to help point out important information on the fields and offer advice on machine settings etc. and genuinely interested in everyone having a great experience with the most chance for success.*I relished having a most hammered coin competition to get the competitive juices flowing.*We hunted around some of the most beautiful English countryside with incredible centuries old churches as our back drop.*Great adventure, great group of guys and an overall experience I soon won’t forget.*Already plotting my return for more tractor parts!
    FLStan*

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    Oregon Mike Had his first trip across the pond Oct 2014.

    First trip to England
    I have been metal detecting for about 30 years in the United States.*I've detected farms, beaches, parks and military posts from one coast to the other.*I made the decision to travel to England to try my luck with the "old stuff." I spent numerous hours researching sites and hunts until I found the hunts in Colchester with Chicago Ron on YouTube.*I began to review the Colchester Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting Holidays website.*I was amazed at the finds from this club, but the acreage they have permission on impressed me even more.*I began researching the history of the area and knew this was an area that would give me the best chance at finding ancient and newer artifacts and coins.
    My goal was simple for the trip: Find one item older than the United States, and I would be happy.*Ron was our guide for the week.*Ron is as lively in person as he is on his videos, and sharing a barn with him and like-minded detectorists made for a wonderful week.*Ron's knowledge of the "huge...tracts of land" to hunt allowed all of us to make spectacular finds in that short week.*During the first day, I was able to accomplish my goal with a 2nd century Roman brooch and my first hammered silver and copper coins.*The rest of the week was just as spectacular, at least for me.*Bull Head George III six pence, more hammered silver, Tudor clothing fasteners, Saxon doodads, trade tokens, Mounts, and "greenies" rounded out the week.*I was lucky enough to put my coil over 12 hammered silver coins the week I was there.*It was more than I could have imagined to find in one week.*I did, however, learn a few valuable lessons on this first trip that I believe will help anyone thinking of Joining Chicago Ron in Colchester for a go at detecting in England.
    First, If you are planning a trip in the near future, and you are new to detecting or have not begun, take the money you would spend on the trip and invest in a machine known to do well in England and the United States and plan the trip at a later date. Make sure your machine can withstand or be protected from the elements.*It rains a lot in England, and it might even snow in early March. Second, spend as much time as you can using the machine and learning how to make adjustments for all conditions.*Preset American programs may not be adequate for the UK small finds.*Remember, a hammered silver farthing will fit on your pinky nail and barely overlap.*I used a program I developed for small silver, maximum depth, and just on the edge of stability for two months before I felt comfortable I was making adjustments that would give me the edge in any condition.*Third, you will be hunting for 10-11 hrs each day, so be prepared for a little pain by the second or third day. Ibuprophen was my best friend that week.*Apparently, I'm no spring chicken any more. Fourth, regardless if you are going in March or October, invest in good rain gear.*It will mean the difference between missing half or an entire day of hunting, or toughing it out, getting wet and being miserable and cold for a hunt. You will be paying good money to hunt in England, so spend the extra $150 or so on proven gear.*Fifth, when you finally arrive, well prepared, and confident, you will have the time of your detecting life, so enjoy it.*There will be people in your barn with lots of experience hunting in England, so use their expertise to your advantage.*Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions and run your coil over as many finds as possible to get the tones down.*Sixth, if Ron's barn is full for the time you can visit, Tim, Sal, or Mindy may be able to accommodate.*I've met them all and would hunt with any of them since they know the land, can help you with your machine, and they all know where the goods have come from.

    Best, GL and HH,
    (OR) Mike

     

     

     

     

    June 2011 Wendell's Saxon gold hoard story - click on thumb nails for larger image

     

    June 2011 Dennis and Christy's monster hunt - click on thumb nails for larger image

     

     

    Mass Bill's 4thC Roman gold ring find featured in the Western and Eastern Magazine

    Canadian Marjo's Detecting Club newsletter called the "Buzzer" for January 2005

    Trip to England

    Check out the following magazines that have articles featured on these hunts.

    March Issue Route 66

    May/June 2004 Gold Prospectors - Ohio Bud's trip

    Ohio Buds gold story goes on line click here to view

    June 2004 in the Eastern and Western Treasures - Boston Will's trip

    Aug 2004 in the Eastern and Western Treasures

    Click on thumbnail pictures to read

    If you want to ask any questions about any part of the hunting here from a USA guy that has been on all the UK tours then drop Mass Bruce an e-mail Jokadiver@comcast.net

     

    Watch the video of Mike's hunt catured by Sal on his hat cam Nov 2010

    http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.../mikes2010.wmv

    Digging in England:
    Ten times the fun, Ten times the History!
     
     Most serious metal detectorists have a “bucket list” of places we’d like to hunt before we retire to the great digging fields in the sky.  One such place was checked off mine this past November…

    Turn back the clock four years to the fall of 2007:  a unique opportunity presented itself to my digging buddy Sal, by a gentleman from Colchester, England, (an outfitter for metal detecting tours in southeast England who specifically caters to an American and Canadian clientele).  He had heard about Sal and his now famous “Hatcam” and invited him over for a week-long detecting trip to film some finds being made as they happen and post the video online for all to see.  Well, Sal jumped at the opportunity, and the rest as we say is history.

     Since 2007, I have wanted to make the trip over to England with Sal, but whether it be work- or family-related, I could not find a way to get over to England to hunt with Sal…  That is until November 2010!
    It was on November 12th  2010, that I boarded a plane with full complement of detecting  gear, bound for a foreign land, to search for TREASURE (and YES, I will use the word “Treasure” here!) for one full week.   I joined five other eager detectorists for the hunt. We met at a car rental shop near Heathrow International Airport on the morning of the 13th, loaded up in a 12 man passenger van, and made our way to Colchester, England (about 1.5 northeast of London).  The plan was to arrive in Colchester around noon, stop by the outfitter’s home, check in with him, get shovels, drop off luggage at the barn house, and then proceed immediately to the first hunt site.  I liked the idea that we would be hunting so soon upon arrival, and hunting for a good seven to eight hours at that. 

    The first site was a nice piece of high ground, just a stone’s throw from an early Medieval Abbey.   The six of us could not get out of the van and into the field fast enough.   We all rushed into the field looking for a spot to hunt.  Eventually everyone settled down in spots in the field and finds were being made in less than 30 minutes.  At last my dream of digging in England was coming true.

     Sal had told me a good goal to set was finding one hammered coin a day, and if you could match that, then that was considered a good hunt. With that in mind, I set out to at least attain that goal.  About an hour into the hunt, and with few small targets in my pouch, I got a nice reading on my detector.  I dug three or four inches into mucky wet soil to expose a cut piece of something silver.  I called Sal to come over and look at the silver. To my excitement Sal revealed I had just dug my first piece of hammered silver (“Hammies,” as they’re called).  I was ecstatic!  It turned out that the cut coin was a 13th century hammered penny (1280 – 1286, Alexander III, 2nd coinage, Class 1).
    Already, one hour into my first hunt in England, I had a coin in my pouch that outdated my oldest coin to date by 500 years.   Simply amazing!  The rest of the day would pass by much too quickly for me and the other hunters. We ended the day with four nice hammered coins as well as many other nice finds. 

      Day two started off bright and early on a new site we picked out for the morning hunt.  With a choice of over 300 sites to pick from, it would have been a daunting task to decide which field to go to first, but with Sal’s experience and attention research of which sites had produced good finds earlier in the season and in the past, we decided on a field.  Almost immediately, good finds were surfacing: a milled silver coin; a 1700’s copper coin; a Roman bronze coin; a lead token; a Russian bale seal.  The finds were coming fast and furious.  As the morning wore on, we all had some really nice finds in our pouch.   At lunch, we made the decision to stay at there for the rest of the day, and I am especially glad we did. 

    Not long after lunch, Roman bronze coins were popping out of the ground, but I hadn’t found one yet.  As I scanned the field, I saw Canada Ron digging a target and then proceeding to clean it, so off I went to see what he had just recovered.  Low and behold, another large Roman bronze coin!  I congratulated him, went back toward my detector about 100 yards off.  Ron said feel free to come over here to find one of those Roman bronzes, for yourself.  So I took him up on his offer.  I decided to detect on the way over to Ron’s Roman bronze “honey hole”.  Twenty yards or so on my trek to Ron, I get a nice clean (round) signal.  One of those, “ya gotta dig me”, signals.  Well, four inches down into the compacted loamy soil, pops out what appeared to be a nice silver button, but no shank or remnant could be found. The round silver disk had a slight convex shape to it, so coin was the last thing on my mind, since I knew coins were flat and not convex.  The details were really good, but I could not decipher exactly what was on the disk.  As luck would have it, a local friend of the Outfitter was out in the field hunting with us for a few hours, and who better to show this silver disk to then a local who knows more about this stuff then us Yanks.  I called “Hey Mark come see this find.  I need an ID on it!”   As he approached I said “Mark, tell me this is Roman!” more jokingly than anything else.  As I plopped the find into his hand, I could see his eyes get large and a look of “Holy $#@!!!” He said “No, it’s not Roman” to my dismay.  Next he said, “It’s better than Roman, it’s Celtic and Celtic Silver at that”!  I knew I had something special just by the look on Mark’s face and the sheer excitement in his voice.  My oldest find just went from 1280 AD to 1st century BC, an entire 1300 years earlier.  WOW  - just amazing!  Later that night, we would find out that this coin is much rarer than Celtic gold and that the ruler, who ruled the Celts in this area, had his or her initials on the coin “AGR”, whom very little is known of to date.  Further investigation would reveal that only 5 specimens of this exact coin exist and that several are in museums throughout England.  Truly a treasure, no doubt!   After a find like this, my week long hunt was already a big success and only 1.5 days into the hunt.  I was just cruisin’ from this point on.  Little did I know more great finds were in store for me in the days to come.

      As DAY TWO ended and all finds were added up, a nice pile of Roman bronzes were found, several milled silver coins and three or four medieval hammered coins, not to mention, tons of buttons and medieval relics.  A good day, indeed by all.

    DAY THREE would have us visiting a newly leased site, which only saw one group of hunters on the site prior to our arrival.  The site was known to have given up an ancient gold necklace last year, to an elderly gentleman. So, the prospect of finding another piece of ancient gold was exciting for us all.  After meeting the landowner and getting a feel for the lay of the land, off we went.  Most of the group stuck together, doing a systematic site investigation looking for any metal targets in the ground to basically identify a home site, or gathering place and to determine its age.  Well, after an hour of little more than a flat button, rivet and a milled silver coin found by Ron, I was ready to make my way to greener pastures.  As I talked to Sal about our need to push on, he said let’s give it 15 more minutes.  “Remember that ancient gold find!”  That was all he had to say.  Again, off I went swinging the coil faster than usual, looking for the signs of some occupation.  Bam!  All of a sudden, a screamer of a signal pops up.  Now I was pumped.  Down I dug eight inches into the mucky loamy soil, to see a large piece of copper/brass with jagged edges.  I called Sal over to ID my find and to my dismay, found out it was World War II anti-aircraft shrapnel.  Although an interesting find, that is not what I had hoped for.  Back to detecting we went.  Two more signals and two more pieces of shrapnel for me it was time to move elsewhere.  As I turned to head off in another direction, I got another signal but this one being much smaller than the previous ones.  So down I dug into the mucky ground,  flipped the clod out and right on the top of the clod was a silver round coin-like object staring back at me.  My first thought was a 1700’s era one piece button.  I picked it out of the clod, and could see full details of a man’s face in profile view.  It had a certain “Roman” look to it, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.  Again I called Sal & Craig over for an ID.  Sal turned on the “Hatcam” and made his way towards me from about 60 yards away.  In the mean time, I plopped the coin into Craig’s hand, and by the look on his face I knew I had found something good.  He said, “congrats Mike, you have yourself a Roman silver coin”.  Talk about a jaw dropper!  This was one of my big goals I set for myself to find on this hunt.  So two and a half days into a week-long hunt, and I’ve already got a Celtic silver coin from the 1st century BC, and now a Roman Silver coin from the 1st century AD.  WOW,   it can’t possibly get better!  Again, the day would end with me making a few nice finds to include a hammered Dutch coin from 1485, as well as a 15th century full groat and other hammered coins being found by others in our group. 

      The morning of day four, had us visiting a new site, which had given up some nice medieval finds for Sal’s team in the past.  Upon arrival, we noticed that one part of the field was covered in crop, and made detecting next to impossible.  This was where the bulk of the finds came from last year for Sal’s team.  Much of the property was still available to detect, so off we went in search of ancient treasure.  A few hours in, we had one medieval hammered silver coin and a few odds and ends to show for our efforts.  Thankful for the hammered coin, we decided to move on and spend the rest of the day after lunch, at the site where the Celtic silver coin and several Roman bronzes came from earlier in the week.  So we ate, loaded up our gear and made the short drive to this site.

      Having spent a day on the site already, we all had our spots in the field we wanted to re-visit since targets were still popping out of the ground when we ended the hunt two days earlier.  I made my way to a spot that was giving up medieval era relics and coins and Ron, Craig and Sal went back to their Roman bronze coin find spots.  It didn’t take long before a few more Roman bronzes appeared, as well as a nice Queen Elizabeth 16th Century hammered silver coin, a King Charles I hammered silver coin, and a few 1700’s-1800’s copper coins.  As the day wore on and night time fell, we all found ourselves stretched out over the 100’s of acres of fields.   An occasional flicker of a headlamp was all that one could see to let you know you were not the only one out there on this vast expanse of farm land.   It was dark, cold and lonely for hours at a time, but knowing that that next signal could be a “stonker” of a find kept us going.  The nine O’clock hour was quickly approaching and I made a point to find Sal and a few others to see what was being found and to get ready for the hike back to the van.  After locating Sal, we talked a bit, ate a quick snack to re-charge the batteries, and decided to walk a spot we had some luck earlier in the day and on the previous day.  Minutes before I walked up Sal had found another Roman bronze and hammered silver coin nearby.  We had about 30 minutes left before it was time to leave.  We both lined up a few paces apart and walked a line toward the tree line at the opposing end of the field.  About 100 yds down, we both had several targets in our pouch.  I made the decision to do an about face to trek back the direction I had just come from after pacing off one coils sweep length to my left.  I slowly (only way I know how to hunt) made by way down this row knowing this would be it for the night.  Sal soon caught up with me and was on line with me just 10 paces to my right.  We both made a few more recoveries in the next few minutes, 9PM  just being five minutes or so away.  I knew that if I were to make a good find for the day, it would have to be in the next flip of the shovel. Well, as luck would have it, a shotgun shell reared its ugly head about 3 minutes til 9PM.  I thought this can’t be my last signal of the day and hollered at Sal and said “One more target!”  He said okay, let’s do it.  So off I swung and not more than 10 feet in front of the last target, I get a nice sweet round signal.  I said, “Sal I got a nice signal and this’ll be it for me for the night”.  He nodded and went back to swinging his coil.  A quick cut and flip of the plug removed the target from the hole.  I knelt down, took out my pinpointer and started poking around in the clod until the target was found.  I grabbed for the target with a fistful of mucky soil, in tow.  After not so careful removal of the muck, I could see what appeared to be a gold plated button, as several had been dug by me earlier that day and night.  So haphazardly, I swiped my gloved finger over the disk to reveal a chunky, hefty, semi-circular, golden colored disk.  I knew at this point, this WAS NOT a button. Maybe just maybe, I have something special here.  At that point, the headphones went flying, as did the pinpointer.  I jumped up to a prone position and yelled out, “Sal, come take a look!!  I think I might have gold!!”  I think he knew by the sound of my voice that I wasn’t BS’ing him (as I sometimes have in past hunts, although unintentionally).  He flipped on his “Hatcam” and made his way over to see what it was I had just dug.  As he approached, I cleaned the bulk of the caked on dirt from the golden disk with some water from my water bottle.  As the water washed the golden disk clean, I could see a horse standing proudly, revealing his statuesque equine posture for the first time in two millennia.  It was then and there that I realized I had just found my first gold coin in almost 30 years of metal detecting.  At that point, my feelings and emotions took over, and to be honest, I couldn’t tell ya what I did or said after that point for a good five or ten minutes.  I was in auto-pilot!  I just know it was a feeling I had never felt before.  It literally brought tears to my eyes.  Unless you have experienced finding a gold coin, you can’t begin to imagine the feelings that went through me at that moment, once I knew I had just uncovered a 2000 year old gold coin.  I still get chills just thinking about it.  To share that moment with my close detecting buddies made it even more special.  If it weren’t for a combined group effort, none of my finds would have been possible. Thanks, Sal’s Hard Core team 2010.

      Lucky for me, Sal was there to capture that special moment on film.   This hunt will forever leave an indelible mark in my memory, as I’m sure it will for the five hard core hunters that were there with me on this hunt.
    The next two days would reveal many more ancient, medieval and modern finds for the group.  I would keep my streak of one hammered coin a day or better intact, and managed a few nice military buttons along the way, as well, which is one on my passions in this hobby.  It was a hunt I will never forget!

    So to close, I’ll just say this…  If you are as passionate about this great hobby and the history behind the finds, as I am, you really need to consider making a detecting trip to England.  There is nothing like it in this hobby that quite compares.   Why don’t you find out for yourself?  Give Sal a shout; he’ll make your dream become a reality.  Cheers, brotha!!

     

     

     

    I had a terrific visit to Colchester and came away with an even greater appreciation for what our host offers to avid metal detectorists and amateur treasure hunters around the world.

    Where else would I have the opportunity to find artifacts going all the way back to the bronze age with a metal detector in the United States? I’ve been enjoying the hobby for over 25 years and my oldest coin was a dime dated 1849. I had never found a gold coin. Now I’ve found my first gold coin as well as oldest (before 50BC) with one careful patient swipe of the detector. Celtic gold. Fantastic!  Also, a gold ring going back to 1300BC. You’ve got to be kidding me. Wow! A Saxon Sceat, hammered silver and a host of other interesting things were found that really made for a totally awesome trip.

    It’s clear from the start that your tours are not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of time, patience, expertise in using the detector and a bit of luck to come away with what we’re all hoping to find. This unequivocally has stated many times that this isn’t a sheepherders or old people’s tour. This is for hardcore totally obsessed detectorists.  If you want a balanced trip that includes museums, sports games, and touristy tidbits this trip is not for you. If you are willing and able to detect for hours on end until your arm is about to fall off in any weather condition for the possibility of some really old and really cool stuff you’ve come to the right place.

    The Colchester area is rich with history that makes the ground a virtual smorgasbord of historical artifacts and coinage that is tossed and mixed together thanks to the annual tiling of the plow. Using a detector in an attempt to search and recover these possessions of our ancestors is a real treat as well as challenge. A lot of the targets are pieces of lead which were obviously used for multiple purposes in the past. You can’t discriminate out the lead without risking missing out on some real goodies like gold and silver. It calls for a lot of patience. Detector settings have to be set differently then we’re used too back home. Some of the “soft” poor targets may end up being the best finds of the trip. This calls for a deliberate low and slow movement of the detector coil. Good targets can be right on top or at depth. Thin hammered silver and gold coins can read as poorly as aluminum foil.

    It can get really windy, rainy and cold. The wet conditions cause mud to stick to everything … your boots, the detector coil the shovel … I mean everything! You have to be both mentally and physically prepared for whatever weather that happens because you didn’t come all this way to sit under a tree or visit museums. Some of the best finds are found in some really crappy conditions. Remember that wet ground makes for better conductivity and compresses the soil. It’s like a whole new field.

    There are literally thousands of acres available for hunting. You get to choose the location for your search on a daily basis. The Celtic, Roman and Saxon influences were huge in this area. It makes the finds so much more interesting and fun if you do a little bit of homework on the history of England and Colchester. Don’t ask our host dumb questions such as: “Were there ever Romans here?” 

    I had days when I got totally skunked and moments that I will remember forever. I’m hoping for many future visits in the years ahead.

    Oregon Ed

     

    Canadian Gord is chairman of a local detecting club in Canada. We never take ourselves too seriously here with lots of banter and piss taking especially when we are getting skunked. Gord was a great guy to hunt with joined in the banter straight away and his finds were not too shabby either LOL. Sal made a 'hat cam' video of his trip here (90 minutes worth) and captured Gord later that night after he had stopped jibbering. Download the vid here Video download

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Celtic gold stater 16.76mm,5.89g now recorded as CCI 08.9338

    'Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I couldn't check the cards in Oxford until yesterday.  There are two very similar series of these coins, as Philip says, one produced in the Essex region, probably by the Trinovantes, and a direct copy of it struck in Suffolk or Norfolk, perhaps by the Iceni; both types with a whorl below the horse are very rare.  Your coin belongs to the former group and is a die duplicate of BMC 345; the second group is the one represented by BMC 3353-3355 and is slightly cruder and lighter.  Almost the only other way to tell them apart is by the obverse dies - your coin is struck from a very worn Whaddon Chase type obverse which continues in use paired with several reverse varieties, whereas the East Anglian group copies this almost blank die.  There are only seven coins known of the Essex type with a whorl reverse; yours is the third one from this reverse die, as well as BMC 345 there's a water-worn example from the 1905 Clacton Beach hoard.
     
     
    All the best'
     
    John Sills 

     

    Gord's great 'newbie' view of hunting here. Gord was on Idaho Gerry's Barn hunt self catering group. They have their own mini bus and come and go as they please on 250 fields. They pick their own start and finish times.

    In a way it is nice not to be a "newbie" now but to be just one of the guys.  Then again, as Orv has pointed out, newbies did pretty well this year  so that monicker proved to be pretty lucky when it came to some very nice finds.  LOL.

    As one of seven members of Gerry's  boys, I couldn't wait to get to the Barn house to get settled, put our detectors together and get ready for the first day of detecting at Colchester.  The three bedrooms were quickly claimed by Gerry, Jeff, Tom, Gene and Ed, leaving myself and Chuck to either share a sofabed or use the two foldaways that Robert had recently purchased.  We chose the individual foldaway beds.  LOL.  Monday was to be our first day of detecting. Our host had the shovels, the maps, the GPS in Scoobie bus..  I think all four newbies to Colchester had a little nervous trepidation as we awaited our first meeting with you. Scoobie bus, the famous or infamous Scoobie pulled in the drive and out popped our host with a smile on his face and a strange accent.  Then again, as this was his country and as visitors, we were the ones with the accent.  Introductions and formalities were quickly completed and the banter started.  It was nice to see that Gerry and not the newbies would be the focus of your piss taking.  Monday we were to start our hunt at an old church site.  The adventure begins.
     
    Hopefully, on our next visit, Orv and I and all the other Fall newbies won't experience the "sophomore" jinx that Gene was under this November.  Man, I felt for him.  It was like a dark cloud was over his head.  Then again, after seeing his gold and hammereds from March, those feelings slowly went away. 
     

    I know just how lucky I was to find some of the milled silver coins that my coil crossed over.  The new land we did on the second Tuesday and Wednesday almost sucked my brains out.  It was so huge.  While a few guys managed to pull out some hammered coins, I could only seem to find a few buttons until I managed that "bullhead" 1819 silver milled in the dead centre of the third huge field that Jeff and I hunted.  And we didn't even get close to going on the 5 or more other fields that farmer owned.  We felt the same at the "Abbey" fields.  We knew that great finds had been made, but there were so many fields in the group to choose from and each field was so big that we weren't sure where to start.  There was so much land to cover and my coil seemed to get smaller once we started.  It's a tough grind but if you are willing to work hard and swing your coil over a lot of land, the relics and coins are there for the finding.  On our second day at ***** near his house, I must have walked five miles while swinging my coil over buttons and other unidentifiable items.  Then, the guys waved to come back to the van for lunch and to decide what we were going to do in the afternoon.  I cut diagonally across the field toward the van.  BANG!!!!!, a good signal.  Digging down, I placed the dirt from the hole to the side, checked it with my detector then went to work to find the target in the pile.  Silver with two hearts and a crown held together by what looked like a paperclip.  Treasure, and only 50 yards or so from the van.  Wow, I had found a cufflink from the Charles II era, around the 1670's. 

    When I got back to the van, I shared my find with my fellow hunters.  Nice find Gord.  Was it the best find so far?  Some said yes while others said no.  Gene thought it was nice but boldly predicted that it would be beaten as best find by the end of the day.  I didn't realize that Gene was such a seer.

     
    It was decided to stay on *****, but we were to drive about 2-3 miles to ***** hill.  Once there, Tom headed to the next field over, Gene and Ed hunted the left side of the field, Chuck, Jeff and Gerry went down the hill toward the town to another field and I hunted the centre and right side of ***** hill.  I was pretty focused such that when I turned around, there was no one to be seen.  They had all disappeared to different fields.  I kept going.  It was mostly buttons and trash, but I persisted.  Then, 3/4 of the way up the field on the right side, another BANG.  Down went the shovel only a few inches into the dirt.  Out came the pile of dirt.  I just stood there, dazed.  There in the hole, only a few inches from the surface layed a gold disc with what appeared to be wheat sheaves on it.  I knew immediately what it was, having lurked on the website for over 3 years.  I fell to my knees, picked up the coin and turned it over.  It was immaculate, shiny, gold and a pony.  It was, for sure Celtic gold.  I grabbed my gps and set a waypoint.  I then jumped to my feet and started bouncing around, yelling and screaming to my fellow hunters to let them know what I had found.  Silence. No one within a mile.  No one to share my find with.  Then the enormity of my find struck me.  I fell back to my knees, put the coin back down and took a few pictures.  I gathered the coin back up, safely put it between a few cotton balls in a film container and tried to grid the general area.  I shook the whole time.  Finally it was starting to get dark.  The guys started to head back to the van.  Ed passed me.  Then Gene approached the field.  I waved to him to come over and at the same time I started to walk toward him.  First I asked him if he remembered what he had said at the other field about my silver cufflinks being beaten as best find of the day.  He looked at me, smiled and said "You found gold?"  I handed him the container which he opened and revealed the coin.  His smile got way bigger and I could see how excited he was and how happy he was for me.  I couldn't have asked for a better person to show my find to first.  I will always remember Gene, his prediction and his response.  The other guys all got to see the find as they came back up the hill.  The response was universal.  To say that it changed the attitude of the members of the barnhouse team from just okay to being on a high is an understatement.  As we drove back in the van to the barnhouse, Gerry called our host  to tell him about the find.  Gerry handed me the phone and when he asked me to describe the coin, all I could do was babble.  Then the phone went dead.  LOL
     

    1490-1504 Henry VII hammered silver sovereign penny

    All remaining days of our hunt had new energy.  We found some great finds but no more gold.  It wasn't through lack of effort though.  The guys detected their butts off.  The eleven days ended way too soon.  We handed in the finds for our stay to be correctly recorded and exported..  We headed back to Heathrow and a plane home.  Good detecting, good memories and new friends.  I can't wait to get back to detect some of the other 200+ fields that I haven't even seen.  So much land and so little time. 
     
    Can Gord

    Orv is chairman of the Idaho detecting club and the first guy ever to send two testimonial of the same trip LOL. Orv proved that a newbie with a positive attitude and good skill can find just as much or more than any senior member. His 2nd Testimonail as a newbie is under his original one.

     

    'Many thanks for this interesting new find, which I have recorded as EMC 2008.0410.

    This seems to be a new variety of the Vernus type, with an inscription reading VE[N?]VEO. It does not really belong to any of the varieties of the Vernus type described in Michael Metcalf's Thrymsas and Sceattas.
    The curved object on the obverse is probably derived from the 'plumed bird' type of Series E, which Metcalf suggests is the origin of the Vernus type. The relatively high weight is normal for the Vernus type, but your comment about the debasement of the silver is interesting.

    Regards'

    Martin

    Orv's 50Bc Gallo Belgic Celtic gold stater - 17.42mm, 6.19g CCI 08.9320

    The cheesey grin of a man who found Celtic gold LOL

    I just wanted to let you know,   from someone that has never ventured anywhere outside North America,  you made my first trip abroad WONDERFUL!!!

    From the first day that I got the confirmation of my flight and my week set for Colchester Treasure Hunting.  I was very excited.  Being able to metal detect some of the oldest inhabited palces in England.   I did not know what to expect,  I did not have a clue.  I have seen pictures and read some stories of what can be found but until you really live the experience,  you really can not get the feeling that comes with pulling something so old out of the ground that boggles the mind.  The people and the histoy behind this area is so vast.....can I mention WONDERFUL again.  For you to put on these hunts and have so much available land for people such as myself to treasure hunt is absolutely the BEST ever.
     
    I,  being ( what you called ) a 'newbie' to England,  had no real concept of what this trip included.  Well I have to say, it included very good meals,  well needed hot lunches,  and a nice place to stay;  and you,  one of the most knowledgable people that I could ever have the pleasure of meeting with the knowledge about the do-dads,  the coins,  and the history of what I found. Thank you.
     
    This trip was beyond all of my wildest expectations....in reality I did not know what to expect.  I was just hoping to put some neat goodies in my pouch.  I mentioned to one of the people that I went with, all I wanted to find a coin that was older than 300 years, the rest would be just bonus.  Now,  this mentioned,  I could not believe that I would not only break the 300 year barrier by more than 1700 years and find a wonderful gold Celtic coin,  but you knew just what it was and from what time period.  50B.C.  I could not believe my eyes when that came out of the ground.  I am including a picture of myself with the coin just after I found it to let you see the excitment on my face.  This trip and everything that went with it will be etched in my mind forever.  I know that not everyone finds one of these coins,  even if I had not,  I would still go back there in a heart beat.  Now,  I have to save up my pennies and do just that.

    Plus, all of the people that I have met,  either while there or through your website,  are the best group of people that anyone could ever come in contact with.  Just to be part of your group makes me feel proud.
     
    I will suggest this trip to anyone and everyone that loves metal detecting .

    Thank you for the BEST metaldetecting of my life,  and hope to return soon,
    Orv

    I,  once again am sitting here thinking about the wonderful trip that I had in England,  as I do on most nights.  Now,  I have been meaning to write you many times with a testimonial of my actual experience as a newbie hunting the England fields as a newbie,  and trying to separate 'you' from the detecting.  For me that is really not an easy thing to do.  Due to the fact that I sat behind you every day and listened to you talk about the finds, the history,  and the land....I was so fascinated but what you had to say,  I just wanted more,  and more....I will try and write what it was really like for me as a newbie detecting,  and not me as a newbie just in the bus listening to you and taking in your knowledge.  First I have to mention that I absolutely thrive on knowledge.  The more I know the more I want to know!!!  OK  OK  I will quit babbling now,  and get on with what I want to write.

    Here is my story:
    This is written by someone that was known as a newbie,  a newbie is a detectorist that is taking their first trip to England to detect.  Well,  that was me!  Once I got all of my preparations done to take my trip,  fee paid,  flights booked everything squared away such as that,  I was then ( I thought ) ready to do some long days of detecting in farmers fields.  To me this sounded quite funny,  just start walking aimlessly out into a plowed field bigger than 3 or 4 football fields (or much larger).  Hey,  I am game for anything.  But,  what I was not expecting was everything that came with this.  You can read what someone puts in their promo to get you to take a trip like this...and go,  yea right,  it can not be that good....or sounds to good to be true.  I am one of those people.  Sceptical about what I read when it comes to spending my hard earned money. 
    I am here to tell you that Colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk is NOT full of hipe and stuff that they don't deliver.  They deliver everything that is stated on the website and much more,  and the people that make the ever growing family of members of the colchestertreasurehunting forum make everyone feel like,  well family.  One of many things that I did not realize,  is how much fun it is to have other people (that enjoy detecting as much as myself) get excited over what I find as if it was their own.  That is awesome!!! 
    Being a Newbie,  the first day picked up from the hotel in London,  taxied to Colchester,  there long enough to drop off luggage,  fill water bottle,  grab detector, and pouch and off to the fields to detect (Boots already on).  How great can it be....Got a wirl-wind of 'this land is ours' and 'that land is ours',  and 'this field will suck your brain out' (meaning that the field is so large you could go crazy trying to detect the thing) from,  Our host (the mastermind of this whole England trip) driving to where he would take us (me and the others)  for my first England dirt to detect.  YeeHaa!!  Everyone unloaded,  grabed our weapon of choice (shovel),  and off to find our treasures.  Oh me,  oh my,  I was not expecting what was in front of me at this time.  A monster of a field.  I am to do what???  Find a needle in a haystack.  Guess so.....So,  off I went.  First thing I dug was a piece of iron about a foot and half deep.  Boy what a way to start my trip.  I can dig iron back home.  From here it proceded to get better (it had to, right).  I found some of the goodies that field had to offer.  And four host meeting me half way across that field at the end of that first day,  just to see what  I had found was off the charts!  I have to mention the oldest coin (before England) I have ever found was from the  year 1858.  On the first day I found a silver coin that was older than anything that I have ever found in my life 1838.  NOW,  I know why I went to England...to find the old stuff I can not find back at home.
    To be honest not everyday or every target is going to be a good one.  But,  thinking that you can just start walking out into the middle of a farmers field and find anything is nuts,  but nuts it is.  Cus that is just what everyone does that comes here. Just start walking aimlessly like me a newbie,  or grid a field (like some of the Sr members) walking with a purpose until they find hot spots and then slow down and start griding an area.  I was like a kid in a candy store and a chicken with its head cut off,  both at the same time. 
    I mentioned that the first day I found the oldest coin I have ever found in my life.  By day three I had found a coin over 2000 years old.  Now,  I know that everyone does not do this feat,   but coins that are 500 to 600 years old are found almost daily,  And,  relics that date back 600 years are amazing to find.  I am in awe still and will be until I return.
    All this mentioned,  I made some new friends, learned a lot (and then some),  and made some pretty wonderful finds.  But,  I think the worst thing about this trip is that I had to leave.  I can hardly wait to go back,  and if you are even thinking about a detecting trip to England,  I will give this the highest recomendation that could ever be possible.  This is the place that I want to return to,  and if this means anything at all....one of my fellow detectorists,  this was his 14th trip with colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk.  and he also plans to return next spring.  He is just one of many that have been there over ten times.  To me that says a lot about the way this operation is working.....GREAT!!!!!  

    Idaho Orv

    P.S. If you want to put my picture with my 'Cheezy grin'  with this feel free to do so.
    Thanks again


     

    Mindy's Gallo Belgic 50BC Celtic gold stater 6.38g, 16.96mm

     

    Mindy found the ultimate find this trip a 50 BC Celtic gold coin

     

    The three Colchester Treasure Hunts I've taken have been the highlights of my recent life. I was a complete newby the first trip a year ago; I was loaned a CoinStrike to use, and by the end of the week I felt pretty comfortable with it and was able to find more goodies than I'd ever hoped! By my second trip, I'd bought my own CoinStrike and had an even better group of finds, including three hammered silver coins. By my third trip I'd upgraded to a Fisher F75 and dug more targets each day than I thought possible, including more hammies, Roman coins, some great buttons, a full crotal bell and even a Celtic Gold coin. I've talked to people who've participated in other tours of this kind, and I'm convinced that the Colchester Treasure Hunting experience is a cut above. The members are all incredibly supportive and helpful, through the Forum and during the tours; the wealth of information our host has at hand, coupled with the many experts who contribute their vast knowledge of our finds, means we're not just finding "interesting old stuff," but learning the history and significance of our finds, which adds a great deal to the experience. In the mornings and evenings, we're well-fed and well taken care-of; by day, we HUNT. These trips are pretty hard-core. Depending on the season we're spending upwards of 10 hours a day on the fields, in all kinds of weather conditions (pay attention to advice the old-timers give on the forum regarding packing and
    preparation) All the detectorists I've met through the Colchester trips have been serious hobbiests, INCLUDING the women. I've found that the gals I've connected with through Colchester Treasure Hunting have been absolutely equal to the guys in both stamina and enthusiasm. We're not all a bunch of young, fit kids either. I'm 57 with a bad back, and lots of the guys are substantially older than me. What we've all got in common is an extreme love of this hobby, which at times can border on an obsession. Nothing beats the anticipation and experience of finding artifacts and coins that were dropped on farm land hundreds, or even thousands of years previously. It's an amazing, amazing thing.

    Mindy

    Husband and wife team Clarence and Mary Sparks first trip here during the worst weather for 40 years and they still enjoyed it LOL They found some great do dads including Clarence's two monster finds which have just got their export license approved.

    1050- 1053 Saxon - Edward the Confessor hammered silver penny - expanding cross type - heavy coinage

    Team Lucky Dog in Colchester

    It was a dark and stormy night, make that a week’s worth of them, when Team Lucky Dog arrived in Colchester in March, 2008.  The weather was much like Oregon with cold rain, winds, hail and some snow.  The difference was, when the weather gets too bad in Oregon, you can just hop in your car and go home.  We had come to Colchester to find treasures and you can’t find them sitting in a warm house. We were waiting by the back door dressed in several layers of clothing and rain gear when our guide picked us up at the non smoking house every morning at 8am. 

    Since we were new to Colchester, we let the pros, NH Dave and NS Andy, chose the fields each morning.  We were given the history of the area as we pulled up and a quick rundown of who had found what and where.  We grabbed our shovels, detectors and gear and off we went.  Our guide returned at 1pm with a hot lunch, soup, hot pasties (yummy), chips (they call them crisps), fruit tarts for dessert and candy bars to stick in your pocket for the afternoon.  This is probably the only time you can talk to the others in your group.  It’s fun to hear what the others have found while you were digging musket balls and greenies all morning.  We usually stayed out until 6pm and were glad to see the  little Scoobie bus coming to pick us up. 

    Depending on the field, you are out all day with no where to escape the rain and wind.  Sometimes you have a farm shed for shelter or a tree to get under.  Trees, bushes or ditches also serve as bathroom facilities.  This is where the guys have a definite advantage over the women.  Ladies, when there are only six people in a 500 acre field, you can find an adequate spot when nature calls.  These metal detecting trips are not just for the guys. 

    We stayed at the non-smokers house.  We would peel off boots and rain gear and leave the muddy detectors at the back door.  You have a few minutes to clean some of the mud off your face and hands then sit down at the dining table for a fabulous dinner.  Lorna is a wonderful cook and if you leave her table hungry, it’s your own fault.  We had fabulous dinners every night like roast pork, cottage pie, salmon, fabulous side dishes and dessert.  There were at least five different things on your plate every night plus a dessert.  After much laughter and telling of tales, we would get to work cleaning up our finds of the day.  That done, we had about enough energy to take a hot shower and climb into bed.  The next morning, we were down for breakfast at 7am, eager and ready to do it all over again. 

    People think we are crazy to call this a vacation.  We spent our 21st wedding anniversary out detecting in one of the worst weather days.  The wind was blowing so hard, it could knock you off your feet.  Then there was the hail…………..and the rain………..but it was a great day, and certainly memorable.  We will be back next March, to spend our 22nd Anniversary looking for treasure in the English countryside.
    Clarence and Mary Sparks
    Aka Lucky Dog and Mrs. Lucky Dog
    Oregon, USA

     

     

     

    Tom found a stonker while with Idaho Gerry's go as you please Barn trip, Tom was on the first week of Gerry's two week tour

     

     

    A Metal Detecting Trip To Remember
    Colchester, England
    By Tom Reyes

                    I wasn’t sure what to expect when a last minute cancelation allowed me to join Gerry McMullen’s group headed to Colchester, England on a metal detecting trip.  It was one of those “package trips.”  Included was your food, room and board, transportation to and from the prearranged hunt sites, documentation of your finds and your export license. I flew out of Seattle, having never before flown on an international flight.  With passport and confirmation letter at the ready I arrived at the self check-in station.  I followed the instructions on the monitor:  touch the screen and enter your flight number or name.  All was going well until it instructed me to scan my passport.  I looked in the immediate area and observed nothing that appeared to be a scanner.  However, I did observe a large slot below the monitor. Feeling awkward and not wanting to slow the line down I stuck my passport into the large slot below the monitor and waited.  Nothing!  No lights, no sound and nothing to indicate that my passport had been scanned.  Doing what comes very hard to a male, I asked for help from the person behind the counter.  He quickly pointed out the scanner, which was located to my far right.  Placing my passport in the scanner I heard and saw the expected sounds and lights.  As it turned out, the slot in which I had placed my passport was the ticket dispenser.  I could only hope that nobody had been watching.Tickets in hand I headed for airport security.  I always carry-on my primary metal detector for fear of it being lost in checked luggage.  I had flown before with my metal detector as carry-on and expected some reaction as my bag went through the x-ray machine.  I removed all metal items from my person and slipped off my shoes, placing all in the provided tub.  I then sent the tub and my bag through the x-ray machine and stepped through the metal detector.  No beep, this is always a good feeling. As my carry-on bag passed through the x-ray machine all movement stopped.  The person behind the monitor was joined by another.  They began pointing at the monitor.  I knew they were looking at my bag.  Movement soon started again and out came my tub and bag, followed closely by a TSA inspector.  In a deep voice he asked, “Is this your bag?”  I acknowledged that it was and started to explain it was a metal detector inside.  But before I could say a word he asked, “Do you have liquid inside this bag?”  I thought for a moment and responded that I might have after shave in my shave kit, to which he said, “I need to search this bag.” The TSA inspector opened my very full bag and having a desire to help, I started to point to the shave kit.  He quickly stopped me, instructing me not to touch the bag.  He then removed the shave kit himself and opened it.  Soon he pulled out my toothpaste and told me that I was not allowed to bring more than three ounces of liquid on the plane.  “Yours,” he said, “is a four ounce container.”  I pointed out that the container was only half full, thus within their 3oz requirement.  He found no humor in my comment, making it clear that it was the container size that mattered.  He then asked to dispose of it, which I allowed.  Nothing was ever asked or said about the metal detector. My plane left on schedule and I arrived in Chicago for my connecting flight.  Here I was to meet up with others going on the trip.  As I approached my departure gate I heard a familiar voice calling my name.  It was Gerry; it was good to see a familiar face.  With Gerry were two others, Marc and Gene.  I immediately took a liking to both.  It was obvious that Gerry had given some thought to who he was taking on the trip, putting together a great group of people with common interest.
    There was a delay for our London flight into Heathrow airport.  It wasn’t long though and we began to board.  Gerry and Marc were ahead of Gene and me in line.  I watched as Gerry handed his boarding pass and passport to the lady checking passengers.  Gerry was immediately removed from the line.  It seems the name on his passport was slightly different than that on his boarding pass.  Gerry and Marc stepped to the gate counter together to resolve the issue as Gene and I continued to board at Gerry’s instruction.  I commented to Gene that I hoped Gerry made the flight, as I didn’t have a clue as to where we were going.  I looked at Gerry and Marc and commented, “See you in London, I hope” and then boarded the plane.
    Both Gerry and Marc made the flight.  They came down the aisle with smiles on their faces.  It seemed like nothing was going to get this group down.
    In no time we were in the air.  I looked around and saw that the plane was mostly empty.  As it turned out only 93 people were onboard.  The plane was designed to hold more than 300 people.  We were told we could sit in any of the empty seats, provided that we stay in our assigned class.  I moved up next to Gene and we talked about metal detecting during most of the flight.  Gene is a gold nugget hunter, having made several trips to Alaska with Gerry to metal detect.  It was very interesting listening to his stories.  I must admit though, by the end of the flight those empty business class seats with all that extra leg room sure looked inviting.  I remained where I belonged….Coach!
    We landed at Heathrow Airport at about 6:00 AM Thursday morning, one of the first international flights in.  After a long walk that seemed to go on forever, we made it to Customs.  On the flight I’d shared and eaten over a pound of jerky that I’d brought in my carry-on.  Gerry and others told me during the flight that meat products would not be allowed into the UK by Custom officials.  I was never asked by the inspector if I was bringing meats into the country, only my purpose for the visit and where I would be staying.  The inspector wasn’t happy that I could not provide her with the physical address to where I would be staying in Colchester, pointing out that next time I should have it.  As for the jerky, I still wonder if the boys just wanted to eat it so they came up with the story of it not being allowed into the UK.  One day I’ll make a point to ask.
    The first day we stayed in London proper.  This gave me a chance to meet up with a friend living in London that I’d not seen in two years.  Joe found me at my hotel and took Gene and me on a tour of downtown London.  Gerry and Marc stayed behind, as Gerry was sick with a fever.  I think it was because he ate too much of my jerky.
    Joe, Gene and I caught the “Tube” (transit system) into London.  We did the touristy thing, taking pictures of us in front of Buckingham Palace.  The Queen was in that day, her flag flying high above the palace.  We also got to see the Big Ben clock tower and Piccadilly Circus (square).  The afternoon ended with a traditional beer and meal at a local pub.  Joe then got us back on the Tube, pointed towards our hotel.  I was certainly in need of some sleep.
    The next day, Friday, Gene and I were up early.  We got into our metal detecting clothing as instructed by Gerry the day prior.  The plan was to have breakfast with the boys and wait for our rental van and three others in our party to arrive.
    Breakfast at the hotel was lacking.  The food had no flavor, but was filling.  For the four of us to eat it cost 28 pounds, or about $56.00 US.  Just after breakfast the van arrived and shortly after Dan, Scott and Jerry made it.
    The introductions were quick.  We all then loaded into the van with Marc driving.  Marc claimed to have some English blood in him, so it was only appropriate that he drove.  I was surprised at just how well he did driving on the wrong side of the road.   I suspect that he’s done this before in the US, but I didn’t ask.
    On the way to the “Barn House” in Colchester where we would be staying Gerry went over the rules.  Our main contact in Colchester, had these rules in place to ensure that all had a good time and that we did not offend any of the farmers, whose land we would be metal detecting on.  Most of the rules were to be expected like fill in your holes, bring out your trash and be respectful of others.  Gerry once again made it clear that any finds amounting to “treasure” we would not be allowed to keep.  Finds of this nature remain in England in the care of a museum, though you and the land owner are compensated for the items value.  What’s neat about this is your name will be assigned to the find as the person having recovered it.   The item will be on display for many to enjoy, with your name and the location found right there for all to read.   How cool is that!
    By the time we made it to Colchester we all knew the rules of engagement and a little bit about everybody in the group.  Marc and Gerry sell metal detectors, Gerry also providing instruction with his sales.  Gene owns a recycling company.  Scott is a computer programmer.  Jerry farms strawberries, sweet corn and other produce, having roadside stands in place to sell his product.  Dan, our proud Irishman, I think he’s mostly retired.
    By noon we’d met up with host, our local contact. What a guy!  I liked him from the minute I met him. He called things as he saw them, no need to search for proper words. He and Gerry knew each other well, as Gerry had metal detected with him before.  He provided Gerry with a GPS that had all the authorized sites for us to metal detect programmed in it.  “With the GPS, even Gerry can’t get lost,” he said before leaving.  I wish that were the case.  He said nothing about the learning curve associated with its use and the fact that sometimes it just decided not to work.  This just added to our adventure, allowing us to see a little more of the countryside.

    At the Barn House we unloaded our luggage.  Gene and I took a room together, which had two single beds in it.  Dan got a room to himself and Scott and Jerry took the downstairs hideaway bed and cot.  Marc and Gerry, well, they shared a room with one queen bed.  This was the cause of many great jokes, which are best left unsaid here.
    By about one o’clock in the afternoon we had arrived at “*****” place to metal detect.  **** is a local Colchester farmer that has hundreds of acres of land he farms.  He was not there when we arrived, but his wife met us.  What a great person!  We were told we could go anywhere on the property that we wanted, but to stay out of the fenced areas where the horses were kept.  I’d spotted an area on the way in that I had a feeling about.  With some quick directions from ***** wife I was off to metal detect.
    You will hear many people tell you, “Go with your gut feeling.  If an area feels good, hunt it.”  Another common saying: “If you feel comfortable with a certain metal detector use it.”  Well, on this occasion I had both.  I had a good feeling about the area I was heading to and I love my Minelab SE, which I was using.
    I arrived in my field of choice and turned on the machine.  Hundreds of acres of fields plowed or freshly planted with wheat just starting to show, all to myself.  I moved across the field being careful to keep my coil low and my swing slow and it wasn’t long and I had my first target.  It turned out to be a button, one of about 70 that I would find during my week in Colchester.
    I continued across the field, digging target after target.  Some were buttons or pieces of thimbles.  Many of the targets were lead.  These are all targets you need to dig.  In these fields you can recover lead bale seals two hundred years old or more.  The highly desired beehive thimble is just waiting to be uncovered and hammered silver coins with their low foil tone may be the next target you dig. I worked my way towards the far corner of the field.  Gerry had told me that high ground and the hedgerow corners are always good places to detect.  As I reached the field corner I hit a screaming target.  It was highly conductive and only a couple inches down.  I dug the target and had my first coin, a copper coin, or “greenie” from the 1700’s.
    I circled the area where I’d found the copper coin, not finding another.  I decided to cross a small creek and head to the field on the other side.  You know, the grass always looks greener on the other side.  In this field I found as many targets as in the one I’d just left.  More buttons and lead.  There was evidence of prior civilization, pieces of broken pottery and brick littered the ground.  Finding no coins in this area I followed my gut feeling and headed back to the side where I’d found my copper coin.
    Once back across the creek I started to work my way up towards some high ground.  I hit a target that sounded good, a sound that was familiar to me while training with my metal detector at home.  It was more of a blip, but a good sounding blip, the target several inches down.  I pinpointed the target and then cut a plug with my shovel and rolled the soil out.  I checked the hole, no signal.  I then checked the plug with my probe and received a good tone.  I broke the hard packed soil plug into several pieces and checked each with my probe.  As I probed one of the pieces I heard a strong signal in my headset.  As I rolled the piece over a gold colored coin about the size of a US quarter dropped out.  Could it be?
    I picked up the target and gently moved the mud away so that I could see the item better.  I noticed immediately that there was weight to the coin.  On the front a face, the back appeared to be a cross made from several shields or coat of arms. A quick wash in my mouth (yuck), I then knew it was gold…….My first gold coin!  Two hours into my first day of metal detecting and I had found a gold coin.
    I sat and looked at the coin for a good many minutes.  I wondered how it got there, what exactly it was, if it was rare and of great value.  Many thoughts go through your mind when you find that first gold coin, or any special item for that matter.   I was curious to know the date.  Having not brought my glasses or eye loop there was no way for me to read it. I took photos of the coin with my detector and then headed back across the field to find the others, metal detecting along the way of course.  In all my excitement I had failed to check the area around the coin for additional targets, having to come back two days later and do this.  Sadly, I did not find another coin in that area.
    When I met up with Gerry I learned most all had found an old coin or two if not some special looking doodad.  Gerry asked how I’d done.  When I gave him a friendly hug and thanked him for the trip he commented, “Did you find gold?”  He knew, after all his years of metal detecting he’d come to recognize the face of a person who had just found their first gold coin.  I excitedly handed him the small box containing the coin and watched as he opened it.  Gerry smiled and yelled, “We’ve found gold,” as he looked at the coin.  Gerry was as excited as I was.  Gerry has unbelievable eyes.  He was able to make out the coin’s 1718 date in a fraction of a second. Everybody in the group came in and gathered around.  There were high fives going on and plenty of congratulating.  Photos were taken of my coin as well as the other cool items the group had found.  There was no jealousy in the group, only happiness to be a part of the moment.  Sure, all hoped to find a gold coin, but for now they were content to be a part of this moment.  I knew then that I was part of a group of people who truly cared about the sport of metal detecting.  A group of individuals who enjoyed sharing in another’s great moment.  A group that I was happy to call friends.
    Our day ended and we headed towards the Barn House.  On the way we met our hope and his group of folks just finishing metal detecting for the day.  Gerry told him we’d found a gold coin.  There was disbelief on his face as he asked to see the coin.  When it was handed to him he smiled, commenting something like, “Stonking good find, what a stonker.”  I’m not sure if “stonker” or “stonking” are even words, but they seemed to mean something to him.  Words that by the way he’d used them obviously meant I’d found something good.
    He then eyed the coin through his eye loop and quickly identified it.  He continued to amaze me throughout the trip on just how fast he could identify a find. “It’s a 1718 George I half guinea.  We’ve never found one of these.”  Once again we all were excited.
    The following day we were out in the fields again.  This time we hunted a section new land recently acquired, which had hardly been metal detected.  As the day went on I dug many buttons and various lead items.  As I got to the far right edge of the field I began to hit copper coins.  They were from the 1700s and 1800’s.  After digging three coins I decided to go see how my roommate Gene was doing, he was about a 100 yards from me.  I sat my metal detector down and walked over to him.  Gene had a few cool items that he’d found, mostly buttons and lead.  I told Gene that I was hitting coins up where my metal detector was sitting, pointing to it.  I told him to work his way up there and he’d likely hit a coin. I returned to my metal detector and found two more coins before I was joined by Gene.  Gene told me he’d not hit a coin on the way to me.  We decided to concentrate on the area where I’d hit the last couple of coins. It wasn’t long and Gene was digging a target.  He brought it over and showed it to me commenting, “I think it’s a silver coin.”  I wasn’t so sure, it looked silver but yet it didn’t.  It was certainly a coin, which I told Gene.  Gene put the coin in his pocket with his other finds and we went on about our metal detecting.  Nothing fancy about Gene, his pocket worked just fine to put his found items in. Just before dark our host arrived at the site.  As usual he wanted to see what we’d found during the day.  There were many hammered silver coins that we’d recovered dating from the 1600’s and before, which he was very excited about.  One of these I’d been lucky enough to find myself.  Gene handed him the silver looking coin that he’d found when we were together.  Out came the eye loop and once again I heard those words, “Stonking good find, what a stonker.  This is Roman silver.”  he said, “I’ve never seen one of these.”  As it turned out the coin found by Gene was a rare Roman coin.  Yes it was silver, but not as pure as some.  We were later told the coin was made towards the end of the Roman Empire.  Silver was not as available as earlier in that period, so I guess other metals were added to the coinage.  Gene’s coin, well, it is so rare the museum has never seen an example of it.  “Stonking good find,” I say!
    The next day we were back in the same fields where Gene had found his rare Roman coin.  The day prior Scott had really hit the Roman coins in the field across the road from where Gene found his rare coin, digging six or eight of them in a short period.  I wanted to try and find a Roman coin.  The big finds while in England include gold coinage, hammered silver coinage and Roman coinage.  There are many other items to be listed here, but these are three of the big ones.  I had a gold coin, I had a hammered silver coin, but I needed a Roman coin. I crossed the road and began to work my way across the field where Scott had found his Roman coins the day prior.  It wasn’t long and I had a loud highly conductive deep signal.  I dug the target and I had my first Roman coin.  How exciting!  I dug one more before the weather started to go bad. As the rain storm moved towards me I could see that it was going to be a soaker of a shower.  I decided I’d wait this one out in the van.  We were in the middle of the worst storms England had seen in ten years.  I quickly worked my way towards the van, metal detecting as I went.  I hit an area about 75 yards from the van where I began to find copper coins from the 1800’s.  I hit three back to back.  The rain was beginning to fall hard and the wind starting to blow, so I made a quick dash to the van.  Inside I found Gene and Marc.  They’d each had the same idea as I. I asked Gene and Marc how they were doing.  Both had some cool finds.  Gene had not yet found a copper coin so I told him about the area that I’d found while I was returning to the van.  I guaranteed him he’d have a coin in ten minutes or less, jokingly making a promise that I had no intention of keeping.  We all laughed!
    The rain stopped and Marc, Gene and I headed back to the field I’d just come from.  Gene was hesitant, but I again guaranteed him a coin.  As we walked into the field I had a strong feeling we were going to find something good.
    I pointed out to Gene the area where I’d hit the coins, telling him once again he’d have a coin in under ten minutes.  We then began to work our way through the area, me about 20 feet to Gene’s left.  Gene had a slow methodical swing to his detector, his coil low and to the ground.  I saw Gene stop and then bend to dig a target.  I watched as he picked up the target, hoping to myself that it was a copper coin like he’d wanted.  He looked at me and mouthed the words, “Gold coin!”I threw back my headset and asked Gene to say again what he’d found.  He said, “I think I just found a gold coin.”  Now I was excited.  I hurriedly walked to Gene.  In Gene’s right hand was what looked to be a gold coin.  It was thin, not like the one I’d found.  I could see writing on it, though I could not read it.  Gene handed me the coin.  No doubt, it was a very old gold coin of some type.  After doing the high five thing once again and offering my congratulations I took a picture of Gene with his coin.  It was about this time that our host showed up and Gene and I headed towards him. We got to him and Gene handed him the gold coin.  There were those words again, “Stonking good find, what a stonker.”  Out came the eye loop.  Yes, Gene had done it once again.  His coin was an English 1/4 Nobel hammered gold coin from the period of 1356-61.  I say, “Stonking good find!”
    The next few days of metal detecting were similar to the first couple.  We had plenty of area to hunt, lots of awesome finds and great company.  We hunted from daylight to dark, the bad weather not a factor.  I did not find another gold coin, but I did find an additional hammered silver coin.  By the time I was through with my week I had a bag full of stuff to include a gold coin, hammered silver coins, Roman coins, copper coins, beautifully engraved clothing fasteners from the 1600’s, thimbles, musket balls, bale seals and a bunch of stuff yet to be identified by our expert.  I can’t wait to see these items again in the fall after they’ve been photographed, cataloged and looked at by the proper English authorities and cleared for export I left Colchester by train early Friday morning, saying my goodbyes to most the night prior.  Marc drove me to the train station.  Jerry and Gene rode along to see me off.  I hated to say goodbye, wishing I could have stayed longer.  I wished them all good luck and sent them on their way.
    The train ride was uneventful giving me the opportunity to take in the countryside as I looked out the window.  What a beautiful country.  I arrived at Heathrow Airport a few hours before my flight was to leave.  It was a good thing I’d taken the Heathrow Express train from downtown London to the airport, as the security line was longer than the staff had ever seen it.  I was relieved to get to my gate, having no problems getting through security.  As I waited for my flight I had time to reflect on my metal detecting trip….I’m sure I was smiling.
    So, what do I think of my experience in Colchester?  I enjoyed great food, more than adequate accommodations and I found things that I’d never dreamt possible.  Every day I could count on Marc to make me laugh as we stood next to each other in the field comparing finds.  Those items we could not identify, we just made something up and laughed aloud.  Most of all, I took away new friendships that will last a life time.  As for my roomy, my buddy, my friend Gene……I suspect I’ll get a Christmas card from him this year.

    About the Author:  Tom Reyes is a law enforcement officer in Washington State.  Three years ago he once again took up the hobby of metal detecting.  His trip to England was made possible by his loving wife Teri and Gerry McMullen who owns Gerry’s Metal Detectors in Boise, Idaho.
    Special thanks go out to host:  Without his efforts of none of this would be possible. His total dedication to the history of England and his close ties with England’s museums and other professionals ensures that many, not just a few, can enjoy the treasures discovered through our efforts of metal detecting.

                   
                   

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    March 2008 - Tenn Mark was the driver on the Idaho Gerry's Barn hunt and managed to keep the bus in one piece for all of the two weeks in festering weather, great job !!

    Hello All,

    The experiance of this first trip has been far behond my expectations I had hoped for.The weather was a challenge for the duration with winds and rain most of the time.This did not stop the amazing finds that we dug EVERY Day!The accomadations were amazing with all needs covered!!
    The Barnhouse was very comfortable with it`s sauna and hot tub along with heated floors! This was a big bonus for those sore bodies. We had every need covered at the Barnhouse!
    I was with Gerry`s Gang for 2 weeks of hard core detecting excitement and we Got It!!We found a rare Milled 1718 Gold coin, a rare Medieval Gold Hammered coin, a rare Medieval Nuns Gold ring along with many other great finds of historical importance including 40+ Hammered silver coins!We just seemed to get lucky out there everyday with find after find!The fantastic historical grounds we hunted were a Dream for every detectorist with amazing veiws that just added to your detecting experiance!!

    Our host was always there for us with his expert anlyisis of your finds and giudance throughout our stay.We woke up every morning eagerly anticipating what we will find today and we were rewarded EVERY DAY!
    We had endless choices of over 200 fields each day and I still have many to visit on my next trip!

    Thanking You Again for a Fantastic Adventure!!!

    Tennessee Marc.

    Ohio Scott was with Idho Gerry's Barn hunt team and the boys were on fire !!

     

    I wanted to write you and say how great my trip to England was. The metal detecting finds far exceeded my expectations and having you there to help identify our finds added so much to the hunt! Your wealth of knowledge and ability to secure great hunting grounds has convinced me that I want to make an annual pilgrimage to your area of England each year. I found so many neat things and am anxiously waiting for the official ID and the eventual export of my finds. Many people that I have talked to after I got back to Ohio have been intrigued by my trip. They think a holiday has to involve sitting on a beach or riding a roller coaster. They got a glimpse of what a real holiday is all about! I have enclosed a couple of movies that I took with my hat cam. Maybe you can use them. I hope that my finds will allow me to “join the club” and I can have me handle changed from newhunterscot to OhioScott! I plan to frequent your forum and I would like to add an avatar of one of my great finds to my new handle. Let me know what I need to do to have that done. I know my brother-in-law OhioJerry asked you about going in February next year. That is a good time for me to go as well as my work, like his picks up in March and it is harder for us to get away. We will work on putting together a group and discussing this further with you.
    Thanks again for making my holiday a special one indeed!
    OhioScott

    PS - My movies are too big to attach. If there is another way of uploading them to you, let me know and I will send them. I think you will like them!

    Ohio Jerry did the first weeks self catering Barn hunt with Idaho Gerry's team, this is a go as you please hunt with you own mini bus.

    Have just returned from a week of great times at Colchester. I was a new to all this and didn’t know what to expect. As one of 7 guys in Gerry McMullen’s group, we stayed at the Barn house. There is a kitchen with all the appliances and dishes, and we mostly cooked our own meals, but ate out at some of the local pubs now and then. Seemed that each of us had our own specialty when it came to cooking, and we ate great meals. That was part of the fun, getting to know each member of our team, and making new life long friends. The barn has beds for 5 (2 doubles and a twin), and a fold out couch, and a couple of cots. There is a nice hot tub, and a sauna, so bring your suit. We had a washing machine, which is nice, so you don’t have to bring so many clothes, but no dryer, so I dried my clothes in the sauna. Would have hung them outside, but it rained. There is a washroom, with a sink and countertop for washing the finds each night. We sure used that, as we had a great week of detecting, and the finds exceeded my expectations. Sure beats finding wheat pennies back home. The great thing about hunting over here is that you never know what your target will be, as you take that chunk of dirt with the target in it, divide it, and divide it again until your newest treasure appears. Quite often I found myself saying “Wonder what that is” and sure was good to have Gerry’s experience at identifying what it was. The finds range from Bronze Age, Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Medieval, and coins from the Kings and Queens, all in the same field. Amazing! Also, as a farmer from Ohio, I know what fields look like, but these fields our tour guide has lined up for us are so vast, and so many of them, you never run out of places to hunt.

    Best of all is the head man , who has set this all up. He is first class, exceptionally knowledgeable, and really gets excited when he pours over your latest finds, identifying what they are, and how old and rare they are. Had a stonking good time!

    Ohio Jerry

     

    Louisiana Sal's unique hunt using his Sony hatcam to record finds as he dug them

     

    English Saxon Thrymsa gold coin - 'Witmen type' c620 -650 AD named after the hoard found in 1828. Sent off to the Fitzwilliam museum Corpus database for recording 1.26g, 11.46mm

     

    My name is Sal. In the treasure hunting community I go by the name mudslideslim. I have been metal detecting/relic hunting for around 10 years. In more recent years, I have gotten more and more interested in detecting for historical artifacts, i.e. old buttons, bullets, coins, etc. In an effort to better document my historical relic hunts, I began video taping them about 3 years ago. Since then I have published these videos on the web for all to enjoy at http://treasureoutfitters.com. In the last couple of years, I began to seriously consider taking a detecting trip to England. I had heard of several different outfits but had shied away because they didn't look like they catered to the hardcore detectorist and were very expensive. I originally found out about the outfit in Colchester while searching the internet. Reading the website and talking to others in the treasure hunting community led me to believe that this outfit was different than the others. It appeared to be a reasonably priced hunt that catered to the hardcore detectorist. Well about 8 months ago (Colchester Treasure Hunting Holidays Proprietor) and I started communicating back and forth via email. He had learned about my videos and I was interesting in spending a week detecting in England. With this in mind, I decided to make a trip to the UK and video tape my metal detecting adventure.
    Fast forward to one month ago. I found myself flying into England in the morning and detecting in the afternoon - hardcore? - you bet! That first afternoon yielded a handful of targets, mostly plain buttons, worn out copper coins and lead pieces. In addition to those items, I also popped out a small 16th century hammered Queen Elizabeth I silver coin that had been folded in half and a 17th century copper trade farthing that day. I learned right away that the more "junk" targets you could find and dig the better chance you had of finding something really good. This would become even more evident as the hunt progressed.
    The next morning we woke up bright and early and were in another field right after breakfast. This field as well as every other one we saw (there were over 150 fields, I think) were HUGE. We started hunting and began to find the normal odds and ends. It was getting close to lunch and none of us had found anything really good. My goal was just to stay focused and keep hunting slow and low to the ground, digging as many signals as possible. This paid off!
    A half hour before our lunch arrived, I got a small signal close to one end of the field. Digging a small plug revealed a small gold, coin-shaped object. Could it be? Videotaping, I got on my knees to get a closer look. I was amazed to see that it was indeed an ancient gold coin!!!! I called my hunting partner over and picked up the coin. It turned out to be an Anglo Saxon coin dating from 620-645AD - simply amazing! Now for the rest of the week we hunted long and hard on many different fields often going well into the night using our head lamps. We dug hundreds of targets. A few of these were goodies such as medieval and Roman artifacts and coins, but most were the usual flat buttons, lead, copper coins and trash metal. I gotta say this was a great experience. We were well fed, 3 square meals a day and given the opportunity to detect as long as we could stand it.
    What more could you ask for? I highly recommend this outfit to anyone that is considering a metal detecting holiday in England. If you would like to view the 45 minute documentary of my England adventure, you can watch by clicking on the following link:
    http://colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/salsvid.htm

    Happy Hunting,
    Sal (mudslideslim)

    Swedish Yngve had never ever picked up a detector before as it is illegal in Sweden and his first trip he was only getting his ears tuned LOL. He brought Swedish Richard with him on his 2nd trip and they kicked butt LOL If you have never detected before don't be daunted as we show you the ropes and can supply all the kit.

    Chasing a Golden Pony

    I am a coin collector and I live in Sweden. In July 2006 I found a coin with a fascinating horse on an Internet auction. It looked like gold and I started to bid. I had no idea what it was, so I searched the Internet for answers. The traces lead to antique Greek coins and Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.
    These coins were copied by the Celts and now I was getting close. I then found my way to the website of Colchester Treasure Hunting and there they were.....

    First I realized that the coins kept popping out of the ground in England and after some more reading on the huge site, I saw that you could actually become a member of the club and come and dig the ponies yourself. This was a very strange feeling when you are used to the Swedish laws of metal detecting.

    Within weeks I had booked my first detecting holiday and it was great! I had five very nice hunting partners from the US who all tried to help the poor beginner. They pulled out one hammered silver coin after the other, while I was digging iron, copper and false signals :-(

    My total coin count for the week reached 14 and one of them was an almost 300 years old silver Shilling. Only one of my finds made it to the finds pages and that was a coin weight. I also got a couple of thimbles, trade tokens, bale seals, a complete crotal bell and a handfull of musket balls, among other things.

    There was only one thing to do: book another week :-)

    This time I was rewarded. In April 2007 I was one of the hunters pulling out hammered silver and I felt that I was getting closer and closer to the Golden Pony! Statistics say that there is one Celtic gold found in every 9 weeks of work, so in a couple of more weeks I will find my first one.

    I think I have to book another week....

    Swedish Yngve

     

    Joe was with the Chicago Ron's team at the new Barn house which turned out to be almost purpose built for detecting teams

    This being my first trip to England metal detecting, I really didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the cottage we stayed in as it was a combination of "old world charm," with all the modern conveniences you could want. Comfortable bedrooms, a spacious living room, and gourmet kitchen made for an enjoyable stay. After many hours of detecting in what seemed like endless acres in a multitude of different fields, the hot tub and steam room relieved aching muscles. Those hours spent detecting were very rewarding, as I found many buttons, various artifacts, and an assortment of hammered copper and silver coins. Finding a Legionary Denarius of Marc Anthony 32-31 B.C. and a Saxon Silver Sceat 600-775A.D on my first trip . . . I wonder what great finds await me next time! Thank you for a fantastic trip.

    Joe Labedzki
    Park Ridge, IL. USA

    Al is a well known guy at the Virginia hunts and worked his butt off for this little puppy LOL

    This was my second trip hunting in Colchester. Both experiences have been great. We were met at the airport by a van which then took us to our home for the week. After lugging in our suitcases, quickly changing into field clothing and setting up our detectors we were out the door and taken to a site to hunt for the rest of the day. This was the pace for the rest of the week; out first thing in the morning, back after dark. This was truly a detectorist's dream, other than a brief break for a hot lunch which is brought out to us, we were detecting all day. The fields were enormous and the realization that the signal you heard might be anything spanning a period of over 2000 years was an exciting prospect. The hospitality shown by our hosts was terrific and the food at either house was plentiful and delicious. I'm already planning and looking forward to my next trip. Thanks for putting on an A1 detecting experience.

    Kentucky Allen V

    Had a real blast with the Mass team

    I just wanted to drop you a note of thanks for your hospitality. The trip was far more then I expected. Having the opportunity to hunt on lands which have been occupied for thousands of years was quite exciting. Speaking of the land, when first arriving and seeing the vastness of the land to be detected I must admit it was almost overwhelming. My first thought was how I could even cover a small portion of all that land. Which piece to choose, and where to hunt on the land chosen. It's easy to see one could spend a lifetime detecting the land you have secured.
    Though you made no promises of finding anything and being skunked was always a possibility, everyone I detected with made great finds over the week. Artifacts, coins, and those little do dads all having a great deal of history added to the week which consisted of comraderie, laughs, and making a few more friends.
    Your attention and pride in the meals you serve is also a credit upon yourself. The meals were not only delicious, but I must say they were plenty big. I applaud your efforts at catering to everones requests and special needs.
    Added to this, some of the best memories will be of your hospitality, quick wit, historical knowledge of the area and the ability to accurately identify finds. All this added up to a truly memorable experience which I look forward to repeating next year. You run a first rate operation in which your enthusiasm for history and detecting culminate in a truly unforgetable experience for your guests. Again, please accept my thanks, and extend the same to your family.


    Sincerely,
    BostonGlen

     

    Cal Mark got one of the rarest Celtic coins ever found her on the last hour of his hunt , never over to the last swing LOL

    I want to thank you for a fantastic first hunting trip. From the first day til the last it was exceptional, and the hospitality was outstanding. The home and cooking were warm and comforting after a long day in the fields.

    Finding my first hammered was the best, finding three was incredible, but finding my first gold coin, 40 B.C. Celtic stater, took it over the top,

    Again thanks to you for making the trip memorable

    Looking forward to booking my next trip with you, hopefully soon,

    Thanks Again,

    Cal Mark

    NH Greg was lucky to be here and witness Ark Gary sucking up another Celtic gold LOL

     

    Sorry it has taken so long to thank you for the great time I had detecting in Colchester and to tell others about what they are missing.We had the flood here in Alstead not long after returning from England, and then I was out of state for several weeks, but the whole time I just couldn't go a day without dreaming of being back on the fields, unearthing the past, and making new friends. My detecting partner, Dave, and I are already booked to return next September and can hardly wait! For anyone who has already been on one of his treasure hunting holidays, nothing needs to be said. For those who are going for the first time, there are two questions you'll ask yourself: Why did I wait so long to book a tour? and How soon can I make a return trip?

    When you get to Colchester you are immediately made welcome and become part of a 'family.' You stay in an English residence and have great Home cooked meals, and can even raid the fridge if you feel the need for that late night snack. Here in New Hampshire, I'm a 'lucky' detectorist and do pretty well in finding some large coppers, a few old silver coins, and some nice buttons and artifacts over the detecting season. I'm happy if at least a third of it is from the 1700s. Over in Colchester, I found far more in one weeks time than it takes me all year here in the states! And don't forget that England's history goes back thousands of years earlier than that of the U.S. Finding items from the 1700 and 1800s is the 'new' stuff. I literally found hundreds of good targets while there. Every new signal will get your adrenaline pumping in expectation of what it could be. Dave found a 1580 Elizabeth hammered silver within hours of us getting off the plane! I saw a new friend, Gary, find a 45 BC Celtic gold Stater in an area a bunch of us had already detected. There is just so much history and so many targets that it will never get hunted out.
    There are thousands of acres to choose from to detect. You decide what field is 'calling to you,' which one 'feels lucky.' You are given the information on each as to what has been found in the past, and is very knowledgeable in identifying what you have found. There are even many great reference books available for you to research your finds each night after you have cleaned them up a bit.


    You start each day on a field of your choice and everyone meets each day for lunch, which is served out at the sites to keep you close to the action. After lunch you decide again where you would like to detect, and how late for that day. This is definitely not one of those tours that takes a whole bus load of strangers out to one field and herds them around like a bunch of cattle.The groups are small, the number of fields plentiful, and depending on your own choice, you may even be the first person to have detected that field during that year. Everyone easily gets to know each other and you will have new friends from day one.The farmers who own the land are friendly people who are pleased to have us there. They know our host is an honest, friendly, knowledgeable, and upfront kind of guy and don't want to open their land to detecting from anyone who isn't a part of one of his tours. That says a lot for his good character.
    Don't just think about booking a tour, Do it! It will be one of the greatest experiences of your life.
    I want to thank all the crew for the great time and I am looking forward to seeing you all in
    September.

     

    NH Greg

    Scott came with the 'hoard hunting team' of Mass Bruce and Linda, Texas Gary and Cal Shawn and the luck sure rubbed off on him quick LOL

    Just wanted to drop a line to thank you for the superb detecting tour that you provided. It had been seven years since my last trip to England (with a less reputable outfit) and I did not know what to expect. Any worries were quickly alleviated immediately upon my arrival and first glance at the fields you had secured for the hunts. I certainly had not anticipated such huge and beautiful tracts of farmland completely open to us and teeming with items from so many periods of English history. The frequency and variety of finds was simply outstanding, as evidenced by my first full day which saw not only my own recovery of artifacts (ranging from a Bronze Age axe to medieval hammered silver), but also the finding of two Celtic gold coins and a silver Saxon strap end by other members of our small group.

    It was a pleasure to be able to stay with a group of friends, be responsible for our own schedules and activities, and be able to focus solely on detecting for the entire stay. Meals were excellent and the location with all hunt sites within a few minutes drive.

    I would also like to thank you for the time and attention that you put in to making the tour successful. For not only have you procured exceptional properties to be searched, but you also provide your own skill and that of other associates to properly identify finds and ensure complete compliance with the Treasure Act (which was a great relief). I am looking forward anxiously to my return to Colchester - American hunting will never be the same or hold the same thrills again!

    Sincerely,

    Scott Stone
    NH Scott

    Digger lived up to his name as he dug hundreds of targets but his first ever hammered silver illuded him for 4 days but worth the wait as it was a beauty Lizzy LOL

    I have been wanting to e-mail you for two weeks and thank you for a great time I had. This was my first trip out of the USA and was a trip of a lifetime. Thanks also goes to you and your family for the great hospitality. I told my wife about those fantastic dinners for a week.
    Thanks for teaching me so much about your great country and its history. I'm studying up for my next trip. I will never forget that Thursday evening what I dug my first hammered silver. I told my boys how I through my digger and ran over to you with goose bumps on my arms. I love hunting but the times at your house in the evenings looking at all the finds for the day from the gang and finding out some of the history was the top of the day.I have told my family when my finds get home the coffee table is mine for awhile.Hunting around old churches was awsome.When I make it back there is a certon SPOT with my name on it,though.Been studing on that.
    Tenn.Jim
    Digger

    I’d like to thank you for a truly memorable trip. There was no let up in the action, when we weren’t digging up curiosities in the fields you were entertaining us with your sharp wit and classic British humour (spelt with a u!). The dinner ritual of fantastic English home cuisine, carefully matched with local beers was a fitting ending to each day, which always turned up interesting finds. I have never seen better field conditions which allowed long, effective and productive days of detecting. The Colchester museum provided a great closure to the week compressing several thousand years of history into a morning. I’m not sure if this trip was recreation, education or self-indulgance; the only thing it wasn’t was boring. Thanks for developing this unique opportunity, see you next year!

    Warmest regards…Nick Wemyss

    Ohio Tony- He has some special homing device for hammered silver. I told him the red flags with his name and an arrow pointing to the ground helped LOL

    Hi , Just had to send you a short thank you note for providing a great vacation for me and four friends.
    This is how metal detecting should be. A go-at-your-own-pace, pick-your-own-field, easy going detecting outing with lots of laughs and good times not to mention the best food.I actually gained a bit of weight even though we were constantly swinging the coil. Anyone who loves detecting as I do should seriously consider what you are offering:the chance to find ancient coins and artifacts in our ancestral homeland. The red flags made it easy for my friends and me to locate and recover targets. Just kidding. But on the serious side, even though nobody is guaranteed to find good things, most do.They may be scattered far and wide but there’s enough detecting ground there that is plowed each year to last a lifetime.I believe I made some good friends in or host and his family as well as some of the other detectorists from other places.
    I’m booked already for my next vacation in Colchester and am already getting excited about it and I’ve only been home for two days.
    Best regards, Ohio Tony.

    Florida Randy

     

    I totally enjoyed the Holiday, it is a metal detectors dream. Metal detecting in the State's will never be the same after hunting in the UK. The find's were fantastic, digging a target and finding coins and artifacts that are older than the United States itself is really fascinating. Knowing I was the first to find and touch silver hammered coins and other artifacts dating back to the 11th century and earlier is amazing. The food was also great, I thought I would actually loose some weight with all the walking I did, but that was not the case with all the food you served. The Holiday is a trip I plan on taking again, I need to catch up to Orlando Don and find one of those gold ponies.
    Thanks Again for a great Holiday and keeping Orlando Rolo in line during our trip.

    Regards,

    Randy

    Chicago Ron got the ultimate prize for their dedicated hunting


    Finally caught up on work. Wanted to drop you a line to thank you for an amazing Detecting experience. I've been detecting for more than 20 years and have only ever dreamt of the kind of finds found while on your tour. My time in your home was wonderful, the authentic British meals you made during the week were great, even if I did laugh at the names.
    The amount of never detected land you have acquired is incredible. Just being able to detect on almost virgin land used by the Celtic, Romans and Saxons was a real thrill. When I was all excited and showed you my first greenie on Sunday and you said "you'll be chuck'n those away by Friday mate."LOL. I thought you were kidding. I was really impressed with your ability to identify items in the field and I like your stock answers when asked "whats this " It's crap chuck it !" then you throw it in the hedge row or "oh thats a nice little (description of item), that is." I had a lot of fun, even before I found my Gold. I will treasure my two little pones for a long time to come. You have earned a customer for life, and a friend also.
    Thank you again. See you in March for round 2.
    This ain't no sheep herder tour. So if you are up for 8 hours+ of detecting a day with the chance of finding the ultimate prize, this is the hunt.

    Ron Guinazzo

    Cal Jeff and team were a great bunch of seriously hard hunters

    I just wanted to thank you for making my first (and hopefully not the last!) metal detecting trip to England a reality. My stay with you was so much better than my best expectations. The finds, the fields, the food, the company and the service that you offer were all top-shelf!

    The hunting is hard, no doubt about that. But for a hardcore detectorist it's a dream. Having a full 8+ hours a day in private, in unhunted territory is an amazing reality.

    I'm looking forward to coming back again and again. Thank you for the work that you all put into your trips, and for putting up with us fanatical detectorists, it's so clear that you put your all into it and I really appreciate your time and hard work!

    Cal Jeff

    On Cal Jeff's second trip he got the Roman Willy as find of the year LOL

     

    Earl was dragged away screaming to do site see in London by his girlfriend and still kept smiling LOL


    I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know what a great time I had metal detecting around Colchester. It was wonderful hunting around the old churches in the country side and sometimes I would get goose bumps, just standing there and thinking what was in the area long ago. The guys I hunted with were like hunting with old friends. You have a great knowledge of the area, and share it with everyone. Talking with you is like talking to my hunting partner back home. You run a first class operation, and Lorna was a great host, kinda like staying at home. I made some great finds and friends I can't wait to get back there next year. If your ever back in Tennessee please feel free to give me a ring and i'll take you to find some US civil war relics, and feed you some good ole southern food, iced tea and all, lol. Thank You!!
    The best to you always.......
    (Tenn Earl) Earl Hix

    Manhattan Gary left with Mass 'Roman ring' Bill, between them they sucked up too much good stuff so they are barred LOL ( Bill ultimately got the 'find of the year' prize for his Roman gold ring )

    Hi Guys

    Recently I went on a metal detecting trip with Colchester Treasure Hunting. I have to say it was a lot better than I could ever have imagined! Their country is beautiful, our hosts were great people.The food and lodgings were perfect ,I hope everyone that goes in the future will appreciate all the work that goes into our holiday.I would recommend that anyone going should slow down and appreciate the beauty of the area.The hunting fields are very big and can become overwhelming at times. Go with which field feels right for you! I personally would set small goals for finds such as maybe a coin weight or a nice lead seal etc.I was very lucky,I found a Saxon silver coin 680 -710 AD the first afternoon! I found a total of five hammered silver coins from the 14th century to the 16th century!The Biggest surprise was a 4th century roman gold ring with a stone!I'm proud to think that the British Museum may want to display it for everyone to enjoy and to think I recovered it from the ground from its hiding place approx 1600 years after this person lost it. Someday my family can go an see it.Thank you again for a great holiday

    Sincerly Boston Bill

    What a great time! Even though I am more of a water guy, I really loved hunting the fields in Colchester. You never know what was going to come up. My wife asked me if my goal was to find a gold coin. I told her no.
    Even though they have been found there, it was very unlikely. My real goal was to have fun, find some hammered coins and a few trinkets. Well, what can I say, the third day I got lucky and found that Celtic 1/4 GoldStater 50 BC. I also got my share of other finds. I can't wait to get my finds and relive the hunts all over again. I will highly recommend your hunt to anyone. Everything ran smoothly. We were picked up on time at the airport. We got to your place and within an hour we were hunting. Please thank all for me for the great food and hospitality. She has a lovely home. Anyone that loves metal detecting and wants to hunt 10 hour days in the oldest town in England should look you up. Please sign me up again for next year. It's in my blood now. You will never run out of places to hunt having all that land available You have excellent repore with the farmers and Colchester Museum. Your trip is top notch and you abide by the Treasure Act. Good luck the rest of the season . If you are in the states, feel free to look me up.

    Best Regards,

    Gary Storm (Manhattan Gary)
    Owner Detectorpro


    Canadian Marjo sucked up some great finds during their trip including that Post Medieval gold ring, Dan now thinks they will share Marjo's find LOL


    Just a quick note to let you know how much my wife Marjolaine and I enjoyed our visit to Colchester. You sure run an efficient operation and the metal detecting is just splendid !
    We were quite impressed with the number and quality of fields you offer your visitors. The accommodations were very clean and comfortable and the food very impressive. Please convey our sincere thanks to your Michelle, Lorna and also to Mark. Quite a helpful team you have there ! The quantity and quality of finds was absolutely amazing and we just can't wait to return next fall for another great hunt. Marjolaine tells me that she keeps finding that gold ring every night, in her happy dreams of Colchester, and it is just as thrilling as it was the day she found it ! Again, thank you for a great treasure hunting trip and we will see you again next year !!!
    Marjolaine

    The week with the boys from Forida was a blast, especially with Orlando Rolo the 'human hoover' who even managed to eat my dinner portions and that is impressive LOL

    Hi, Just a note to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Colchester to hunt. The trip was more than I expected. The accomadations were great and I felt like I was part of the family for the week! Not many people would give up their home the way you do. The meals were great, even for a picky eater like myself. It was fun to try your traditional home cooked meals and the puddins were fantastic! I don't think I could find portions like that here in the states. As hard as we tried (10 hrs a day) to hunt all your fields, we just barely scratched the surface. It was a great feeling to hold a 1700 year old Roman coin in my hand! The targets were plentiful and I was tired at the end of the day. It was a treat to have the pic-nic lunches out in the fields, and fun to meet the landowners. I found them to be very interested not only in our finds, but in us, as visitors to their country. After going through 2 hurricanes, with a 3rd now heading straight for us, it was very relaxing to just sit out in the fields and enjoy the wildlife, birdsongs, even the geese flyovers. I am looking forward to our return trip in 2005, and who knows, maybe that hammered will find my coil! Thanks again for a great trip!

    Don Hickey (DonFL)

    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    In September just put me down for two weeks. I’m ready to give up my Reno trip, (gambling & Air Races) and New York trip, ( Deer Hunting ) just to be harassed by you. The trip is like Pierre Pepi La Pe U, making love to a dog, and the dog saying I think I had enough of this pleasure I can stand!( P U ) Phew!

    You can have anyone call me for a recommendation. Michelle treats us like Royalty and the Chef, well he is a little touchy when he is cooking . (Anyone attempting to roam around the kitchen like a Lion waiting to be fed get's told to bugger off !! LOL) It helped that you are very knowledgeable about our finds. We liked the reference books you have available for us to use on most everything we would find. I really appreciated the clean up sink area. It made it easy for us to clean and sort our finds of the day. Total overall rating 10 stars plus! The only recommendation I have is to put water and chairs with shade at both ends of fields. This way we can rest at the end of the field. Those fields are big!And don’t forget about a Masseuse! This is one vacation I personally want to repeat and repeat.

    Orlando Rolo

     

    Mass Linda was a Saint and put up with six smelly guys for a week and is even coming back for more ! LOL

    I don't know how much I need to say about your trips , when after hunting the last week of the spring 2004 season, we booked the first week of the fall season before we even left England! That pretty much sums it up... I haven't laughed that hard for a week straight, nor have I hunted that hard, ate that much, been so muddy, slept so soundly, well, you get the idea! You made us feel truly welcome in your home, with great cooking, too. The main thing I came for was the possibility to hunt great fields in great condition, and to dig as much as I could. If that's what any detectorist wants in a trip, then yours is definitely the one to take. The quantity and mix of finds for our week was astounding. I've hunted on my own in England before your trip, but it's so much more fun to have a small group of serious hunters to dig with, and be able to share finds as you dig. Not to mention the knowledge of what a lot of the finds are - it's good to have someone to look at things you don't have a clue about! I spent hours each night going through your ID books... It's also a relief to have someone to coordinate our finds with the museum, and comply with the Treasure Act; hard to do when you're on your own.

    Thanks for making me feel like 'one of the guys' on the trip. I learned a lot more about the finds, the culture, plus loads of new british expressions! In short, it was an absolute blast - it's going to be a long summer waiting for september and those beautiful fields....

    Cheers!
    Linda

    What are these 3 copper discs with coin on them ??

    I wanted to drop you a line and say I just had the trip of a life time.
    It is awesome to consider the finds we made that week , Bruce with his axe head horde and myself finding THREE Celtic Gold staters with the first laying on top of the ground. The Dogz !(he means the dogs danglies)
    That's not to mention the numerous silver and copper coins and the regimental buttons. The list goes on and on. Detecting in the states will never be the same.
    For those of you that have been on other trips this is NOT a herding operation. This is like hunting with a bunch of your friends It is for all these reasons that I have booked a week in September and we WILL find that pot of buried staters this time. I have been home a week now and I am still on cloud nine . Now I see why Arkansas Gary comes so often!!!
    The best to all

    Brian

    Mass 'Axe hoard' Bruce

     

    Hey
    Wanted to send you a note saying WOW, what a trip.Things are finally calming down a bit here, my phone and email have been non-stop since returning to the states. I guess the axe heads was a bigger deal than I expected! Your trip is a first class trip with no BS in the background. Everything went off without a hitch, from the taxi at the airport, the ride, the accomodations, the food (i'm still full) the Scooby Doo Mystery Van that took us to the sites everyday, and of course the unbelievable amounts of quality land that you have!! Anyone that thinks these fields have been hunted out they are so wrong, there were footprints near my axe head hoard, Linda's axe head was only 6" deep, Brians Celtic hoard was shallow and whatever else Gary and Shawn dug the following week. Next time we will try and bring some better weather with us!! It wasn't only the hunt that was a blast, it was the constant laughing to and from the sites and during our picnic lunch. Our little group will be back in September and look forward to it and meeting the infamous Arkansas Gary. You have the summer to rest and get prepared for our return, you'll need it!! :-))) It's going to be tough to go out detecting at home and get excited over some 1900's coins! Have a great summer and enjoy your holiday!!
    See you soon!!
    Anyone with questions can feel free to get ahold of me at jokadiver@comcast.net.

    Cheers
    Bruce


    Californian Charles gave us all a lesson in how to find Roman coins !!

     

    Am I out of my mind? It is 80 degrees here in Southern California in the middle of March and I am on an airplane flying 5484 miles to England where it is 20/40 degrees. I am standing in a large field ankle deep in mud. It is sleeting and raining. Does this sound like a sane person? If your hobby is metal detecting you are in heaven, listening for that beep that means you have found something that is maybe 4000 years old.

    This is my second trip to England . I can’t say enough of the hospitality and care staying with Laura this trip. The lure of finding a treasure in the fields around Colchester has brought me back. And if you don’t find a treasure, 6 days of hunting, great food, and the making of new friends is a adventure come true for any one interested in metal detecting..

    I will be coming back next September with my grandson, Nevada Mike, and we will find that treasure.

    California Charles

    Myself and Arizona Jim had a real fun hunt for a week together before Boston Bud joined and jinxed us with that amazing 7thC Saxon gold coin find on his first day, we ended up getting pretty well skunked after that LOL !!!!

    This is Jim Fleming. Sorry I have not contacted you before this but I really have been busy. I want to thank you and Michelle for a great time and for putting up with me. You and yours are the greatest people I have ever met. I will always remember this trip as one of the best trips I have ever been on

    Nevada Gary nicknamed Mike 'Veggie man', if you try and feed him anything green he runs screaming for a burger !!

    I never thought I would have come back so soon in 2003 but I have the bug now . I had to take you up on another great vacation . When I was by you in March of this year I was so overtaken by all the land you have to hunt and now you so much more . The Romans were hiding this time, real good, but we still did real good anyway. The goodies were still there . You have so much history in all these fields. I still have not unpacked my detectors because I am coming back in March of 2004 to hunt with friends again . Hunting by you is a dream come true for me . Please don't change anything you are doing because then it wouldn't be fun anymore . I hope you and your lovely wife have a great Xmas, and Newyear . If people really knew what they were missing out on I don't think I could get reservations for another week . Keep the good finds coming because I will be watching . MILWAUKEE MIKE ( VEGGIE MAN )

    Arizona Bert held the oldest coin find ever found at 119BC

    Just a note to offer my endorsement of your operation. This was my first experience in overseas detecting on an "arranged trip". What you said in your information is what you delivered...... a rarity in today's world.

    For anyone serious about detecting this is the venue... fields as far as the eye can see and finds for all who will swing it "low and slow". This is a trip for detectorists..... be prepared........you will find what we all want, a place to hunt and finds to interest everyone.

    Michelle is a great host and I wish you continued success. Thank you for making my week not only enjoyable but productive as well. Arizona Bert

    View Ohio Bud's report about his trip in the Gold Prospectors magaine

    Ohio Buds gold story goes on line click here to view

    Ohio Bud was the guy that found that incredibly rare 550AD gold Saxon dagger cheaf which is now with the British museum undergoing extensive investigation and awaiting a Treasure inquest.

    Both Ohio Bud and Nevada Gary have been told and read on forums by the 'other' tours that all the finds including the gold found on my tours is planted which makes me either a very generous person or I am now a registered detecting charity!!!

    I have been back home for three weeks now and finally got around to writing to you about my trip there. I have a complaint however. I was there for two weeks and only found 2 pieces of gold!!! Just kidding!!! I had a great time and plan to return soon. I was a little apprehensive before making the trip because of comments I had read on the Internet. Thankfully my decision to ignore their stupidity was the correct decision. I felt a little put out at first when you said that we had to pick our own fields to detect on each day. This turned out to be fun however as we could pick weather we wanted to detect where Hammered Silver, Roman, Celtic, Bronze Axe head or a Washington Inaugural Button had been found. You probably have the best fields in England for us Yanks to detect in. The potential is enormous.

    All in all, the trip was much better than I expected. The pick up and return to the airport was excellent. The accommodations and food were exceptional. Our stay with Lorna was a highlight of the trip. I felt as if I were at home. I actually took pictures of some of the dinners. You and Michelle are great hosts and I thank you for making my experience there a delight.

    Sincerely, Bud Kaczor

    Nevada Gary ( the last guy to leave before the break) looks like he needs another 'fix' already !!

    Well, in reply to all the doubting Thomases out there, I can say the stay with you and the detecting was all that was promised and much more. Simply put, I can’t imagine a better stay, more fun, better hunting land or a better mix of dectectorists. As they say, this is the real deal for anyone looking for a chance to find and or bring back the kind of things that any detectorist in any country can only dream about.
    The Full gold Celtic stater and the oldest (for now) Roman silver were things I dreamed of finding, but did not actually expect to find.
    And yes our hosts were as great as reported by others. Great food, fun people, friendly home style chat and stay. I really appreciate how you went above and beyond to get me to the Chelmsford auto rental on the start of your vacation time.
    With your blessing, I’d like to try for the first hunting week of March or so. Now I know what is meant by getting a detecting “fix”—there is still that Roman Gold that I missed! The “I found Celtic Gold” you gave me is especially nice and I’ll think of the great times when I put it on this winter! Regards to the guys –Wayne, Mike (veggie man), Neelie, Ken, Bob

    Thanks again-
    Nevada Gary

    Ps—could I bring you something from Nevada?

    Texas John taught me how to chew tobacco and spit like a Texan

    Well, I’m finally over my jet lag and I wanted to drop you a line to say what a great time I had. I have had a lot of great treasure hunting experiences, but this was at the top of my list. If it wasn’t for the long flight over, I’d be back next week. I was a little unsure about staying in someone’s home for a week but that turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip. It didn’t feel like I was on a “for hire”hunt but instead, like I was spending a few days in the home of someone that I hunt with every weekend. I felt totally comfortable in your culture and it was really neat (although it did take me a day or two to figure out what “half twelve” was). I have already had the opportunity to recommend your hunt to someone else. I must say it was “five star” when it came to being accurately represented. You are excellent hosts and now I consider y’all good friends. I really enjoyed learning about some of the events in your history, and to think that I found artifacts from 10 A.D. is astonishing. You made me feel welcome and when we left I really expected to hear you use the old Texas sayin’ “ya’ll come back now, hear!”

    John L. Hitt JLHTX

    The Texans invaded with the two Hitt Bros and Dave, I nearly learned how to spit properly ! Great fun, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha

    Jim, Dave and John the 'Texans'

    Jim had an interesting style of roping and branding his finds !

    Thought I would drop a line to say how very, very, much I enjoyed the stay with you. For an old retired Texas cowboy, this was certainly the trip of a lifetime. The detecting, the hospitality, the food, camaraderie, everything.
    What made it so good was the fact it was like staying with a buddy and fellow detector. After the first day it seemed I had known you forever.
    Give my thanks to your wife also, for I know she works as hard as you.
    I would love to come back again and with your blessings and continued good health I intend to do just that.

    Jim

    Texas Dave could sure sniff out the hammered silver !!

    Just wanted to say "Thanks" and tell you how much I enjoyed my trip and stay in your home. You made three old country boys from Texas feel at home. The finds were great and the food was outstanding. Hope to see you again.

    David

    We both had a brilliant week with Dave and Dan, their wives Vickie and Lynn

    Dave and Vickie

    An experience of a lifetime. Not only did we make some interesting and awesome finds in the fields, we made two awesome finds in the friendships . You both made us feel as welcome in your home as any of our family members would. You are as up front and knowledgeable as they come. You have so much land at your doorsteps that I can invision nothing but success in your future. It was a dectorists dream to be able to wander through such fields so rich in history. Every field has the potential of giving up awesome finds. The one week we stayed was great, but I can honestly understand now why a two week stay would be needed to fully experience a taste of all the land available. Not a day went by that we could honestly say we were not well fed! Michelle, your humor and wit were an experience in itself! Not only were we able to pick up on some catchy phrases, she made the time to take Vicie & Lynn around and about Colchester. Again, you made us feel very comfortable in your home.
    To sum it all up, Awesome Hunting, Awesome Friends, and an Awesome Time!
    Muchos Gracias Chris & Michelle.
    Dave & Vicie Martin

     

    New Yorker Jim and team (these guys sure hunted hard and NE Jerry' the tornado'smashed the coin record easily with 86 coins in a week)

    Just wanted to drop you a quick note to say what a great time Dave, Jerry and I all had on your tour this year. Only wish we had made it a 2 week trip instead of only one! Everything was great, from the meals your to the weather, the fields and the finds! Especially my gold coin :) I Don't know of any other tour that allows for so much time hunting and choices of hunting sites, not to mention the great hosts.. Keep up the great work and we will be back I am sure.. Still gotta find me a hammered gold..

    Jim Yates

    Californian Dan is the lucky son of a gun that got that Intaglio

     


    Thanks so much for the opportunity to make reality the hunt of a life time.
    I must admit, when first booking this hunt I had thoughts of how uncomfortable it would be to be staying in someone's home. Those thoughts gone within minutes upon arriving. You both were great hosts, one couldn't ask for more. The meals excellent, I still think you should have a cooking show. The fields, impressive, more then could be hunted in many life times. The finds, awesome to find coins, relics, and artifacts like the ones being made, mind blowing to say the least. Thanks Again for Your Great Hospitality, and the chance to hunt such awesome fields.
    PS Take care of My Digging Tools, Because as Arnold said~ I'll Be Back~
    Dan Miller

    We had to nickname him Alaskan 'goldfinger' Todd as this guy just kicked arse everywhere he went and did the treble gold in a week, just amazing to watch!!

    Here is a long overdue testimonial for my trip to England.

    How do I sum up a perfect detecting trip? Who would of thought a detecting trip for gold nuggets in Alaska would lead to a trip to England? Arkansas Gary, (your #1 visitor), who I had met detecting for gold nuggets in Alaska last summer e-mailed me this spring asking me if I wanted to meet him in England for some detecting. Gary's enthusiasm about your detecting adventures really got me excited. I could hardly sleep just thinking about the opportunity and even had less sleep after I found out that I was able to make the trip. I would like to inform everyone that this is a real genuine detecting trip. All I had to do was show up at the airport and you did the rest. I was driven from the airport to my top-notch accommodations allowed to unpack very quickly and then driven directly out to the historic fields. I have never detected anywhere in my life that matched the historic level of your detecting land. How do you tell someone that you not only found your first gold coin but that I also found two others? One of the gold coins was even from the Celtic period. I was able to find buttons, hammered silver, milled silver, Roman coins and the coveted beehive thimble among a few hundred other finds. The history that I am able to hold in my hands and share with my wife and daughter because of this trip is incredible. Also, just as important as my finds was meeting you guys. What an incredible lady.... Please thank her for all of her hospitality in making us feel welcomed and at home and for preparing English foods for us to try. Anyway, for those thinking about this trip and just wish they had a little more assurance, I cannot recommend this trip enough. For those that love to detect this trip is for you. This trip is also for you if you are frugal or for those that seem to be getting older every year and find that they keep wishing they had gone on a trip like this. This trip would have been a fantastic value even if I found nothing. I for one thank you for the service you provide because if it was not for your inclusive trip and extensive research I would probably have never had the opportunity and resources to detect in such a beautiful place. You are always asking how you can make the trip better or more enjoyable. My recommendation is that you quit posting all of the new land you have added to your detecting area. It is very difficult after you see these posts to even think about work. Thanks for the adventure and I will see you again......Alaskan Todd....

    Texas Mike & Alaskan George's visit (first guys ever to visit here)

    Mike (kneeling) holds his first Roman coin find !!

    For years I have dreamed of making a detecting trip to England but didn't know how to make the dream come true. Then a friend and I decided to take up Michelle's offer to travel to the Colchester area to hunt . It was the perfect trip ! Perfect hosts and the detecting was out of this world. We found coins, buttons, and artefact from the Roman period to the present. Michelle has permission on fields that will astound you with the amount of signals in them. If you are like me and dream of detecting England but just don't know how to go about it, take Michelle up on her offer...you will not be disappointed !

    Mike TX



    I want to thank you again for all of your hospitality. You indeed welcomed me into your beautiful country and home and for that I will always be grateful. The memories that you provided will be cherished for a lifetime ! The detecting was all that I had imagined it to be and the finds were large in both number and significance to me. I hope that if you attain your dream and venture across our country that me and my countrymen will be able to repay your kindness many times over. And, God willing, someday our paths cross again !!!
    Let me close by saying this: Already several people have asked, "what was your best find"? There can no easier question to answer, my best find without a doubt were the two new friends that I found

    As we say here in Texas......! Vaya con Dios Amigos, Adios and Muchas Gracias !!

    Mike

    I got a nice e-mail from 'Alaskan'George's first trip it reads:


    What a trip! and for me it was a chance of a lifetime and I know Mike feels the same. I very much enjoyed the comfortable accommodations you provided and the food was out of this world, you both are truely very gracious hosts. The detecting was superb and I believe you are limited only by your individual effort as the finds are there and are coming out of the ground on a daily basis to prove that point. Thank you again, friends, for making me feel welcome in your country and for putting me onto what I feel are my most valuable finds...Geo and Norma J

    George found that 'one off' rare Celtic gold on his second trip

    Ed, Budd and Al the gold hunters !!

     

    NJ Ed wrote this as he pinched my gold and is feeling guilty !!

    Hello Chris:

    In life as in detecting there is no guarranties. I was very skeptical after
    seeing your site showing all the finds from the various ages. However,
    since my 2 week trip in January to your lands, I am now a firm believer that you are honest and provide many prime lands for detecting. Some fields produced more than others but at the end of the trip, my two detecting buddies, Al and Bud, had found Celtic, Roman and Medieval items. I have been to the U.K. 7 times and can say that your lands are as prolific and any others I have been on. Bud, Mike and I have already signed on for another trip.
    Thanks again for being a great host and will definitly see you again.

    Ed Orzec

    Boston Bud's Testimonial. Who in their right mind detects in a blizzard and says it's nice and fresh out here today, totally barking mad !!!

    We barking mad Yanks spent 2 weeks and it was a great detecting experience and fun. Authentic British food .."spotted dick, scotch eggs, faggots" and conversation…."cup of rosie"… "up the apples for a Richard"…etc. The accommodations are very comfortable and the excellent cooking!Detected every day, rain or shine (ice, sleet and snow too) as long as we liked on huge fields. We quit when we could no longer see what we were digging. An amazing number of targets in the fields. Lots of junk, plenty of greenies, buttons and unknowns. You have to work and be lucky to get the Romans, hammereds and gold and there are definitely no guarantees, but we
    succeeded in all categories. Al found 2 remarkable Celtic gold staters from 50BC and 50 AD!!!. I found a US one dollar gold coin and Eddie found a George III gold half guinea 1788. We found short and long crosses, foreign hammereds and Romans including some silver Romans. My largest silver was a beautiful Eliz I sixpence, Ed found a Mary groat.

    In summary, a fabulous vacation and detecting experience. Thanks Michelle

    Budd did it again on his second trip and got a nice gold half Guinea

    Beau and Bill

    Boston Bill sent this great e-mail and it rained all week !!


    I have to admit I now feel spoiled. I guess metal detecting in Colchester, England's first recorded town, will do that to you. It's a whole different ball game. Back home in New England I might pour over old maps, or hike for miles in thick forests to perhaps detect one homesite and come up with a "grotty" colonial copper or two. Finds that arecommon, or even considered "new" in the fields of England. Years of researching the American Revolution has rewarded me with exactly oneRegimental (numbered) button, considered a great find here. Yet, afterjust one full day on Michelles fields, I had dug three. Also, amazing to us was that on fields here in the states we pick up black glass and china shards as indicators of occupation. By contrast, Colchester's fields are loaded with pieces of red Roman pottery and tiles.....you just can't turn your machine on fast enough! With thousands of years of occupation every field has something to offer, and with over 3000 acres staring you in the face you almost don't know where to begin. You will dig well over 100 targets a day if you work hard enough, and the fields will always produce more each year as they are plowed. Everyone who owns a metal detector should experience searching England at least once in their lifetime. All of my detector friends, and even my father is jealous and is ready to book. The variety of artefacts from different time periods is unmatched. We found Bronze Age, Roman, Saxon, and more. I have always longed to detect in England, so thanks for making it so affordable. It also was nice for a New Englander experiencing Feb. frozen soils & snow to be able to dig. The traditional dinners and desserts were amazing! Your home was very comfortable, and If my wife will let me (and you don't mind me splashing more mud on the floor), I'd love to return!
    Thank you again,
    R.I. Bill

    Canadian Rod tells the story of the one that got away !!

    Canadian Rod and Kevin's e-mail


    I Want to thank you for opening your doors to a couple of Canadians during our recent week stay. The whole experience is one I will never forget, and in fact hope to repeat on an annual basis. The food is excellent, the facilites adequate , the cost reasonable, very convenient, and the hunting is amazing ( 57 very old Coins in a week). As a history minor in University I've always wanted to experience England first hand. I was amazed at the lack of research required , over here to be succesful one must do their homework, which I also enjoy. Over there you literally have to walk onto a field and go, granted research would also help but it is not a requirement. The Celtic gold piece ( my first gold coin) I found will be a hard find to match. The finds are varied and cover 2000 yrs of occupation, Celtic,Roman,Viking,Saxon, Imperial. You never know what you'll bring to light. I would definately recommend your holiday to anybody considering England as a detecting vacation.
    Your Friend Rod

    Vancouver Mac

    Mac wrote a very nice testimonial of the guys trip, he gets an extra portion of 'Spotted Dick' on his next visit

    I've wanted to write you for some time now, to tell you how much Brent, Dave and I enjoyed out detecting holiday with you..I could write a book about our stay and entitle it, "Three Happy Canadians"...Everything was as good or better than you have portrayed on your website.
    We heartily recommend any detectorist contemplating a detecting holiday to England, to seriously consider contacting you over anyone else.
    The price is right, hospitality second to none, and the food and lodging worthy of a 5 star rating..the fields are all productive and each swing of your coil is liable to find some of the most prized coins and relics we have ever seen...Talk about a pleasant lesson in history!!! This was it.
    The whole experience surpassed our wildest expectations and each of us would do it again in a heartbeat--and we will.
    We would like to extend our Special thanks to Mark and Michele for their kindness in welcoming us into their homes and putting up with the dust and grime that we inevitability brought in with our equipment and soiled clothing..
    We enjoyed every minute of our stay ..Although we spent only a short ten days with you, we all think of you as an old friend..
    Thank you again , from all of us
    Sincerely
    Mac--Brent and Dave

    Got a great e-mail in from Milwaukee Mike, even those I tried to feed him brussle sprouts !!

    Dear Michele,Mark I have finally gotten off my cloud and came back to earth. You and your lovely wife were the best of hosts. When I was looking to come over to your lovely country I checked out some others tours but didn't like what they had to offer so I asked a friend and he gave me your web site .I watch your site for a couple of weeks before I wrote you and I am glad I did. I had a great time looking for all those roman coins .You guys made me feel at home and I didn't want to leave but all good things have to end, but I hope not for too long. I would like just one of the fields over here to detect like what you got. You cant put into words the finds and the friendship,.Roman is what I wanted and roman is what I got .People don't know what they are missing .I cant believe 2000 year old coins 5-6 inches down and so many fields to pick from . you are the best!!!!!! it has been 3 weeks now and it is all I talk about to my hunting buddy randy.. I will be coming back this fall if you will have me and hope randy too I take my hat off to you and your wife for opening your house to me.. I thank you again your new yank friend mike krieg ps anyone in my area wants to know about the trip give them my e-mail <say hi to Markie for me>

    Arakansas Gary ( he been here so often now so we have adopted him !!)

    Gary has been here a lot and made some seriously good finds, he knows the fileds like the back of his hand so mail him if you have any questions.I missed his Gold dance that NJ Ed taught him to do.

    Here is a nice e-mail I got from him about his first trip:

    Mark & Michelle,
    England is one of the few old countries you can still metal detect in without a lot of hassles or worse, no detecting at all. The finds are surprisingly old and varied. Where else can you find a 1948 penny and a Roman coin side by side. I was so surprise when I dug my first silver Roman coin (251AD). It was almost like the day it was dropped so long long ago. It hadn't been touched or seen laying in that field for over 1500 years. What a thrill to be the first one to hold it in all those years. You wonder who dropped it and why. Was he riding a horse, was he a soldier, merchant, or a traveller? Was he attacked or did he just lose a few coins there? Was this spot woods, house, or campsite 1700 years ago? Holding that Roman coin connected me across the ages to another time, another place. There are so many fields to hunt that you don't know where to start. I was overwhelmed with the choices. After a few days you have
    your "favorite" field's. I had three favorite fields. It would be hard to pick just one. There are no bad fields, not even one. Mark and Michelle are the perfect host and made me feel as part of their family. My favorite dish was spotted dick (pudding).If anyone ever wanted to hunt England (who doesn't) this is it. Theairfares are low ( $396 R/T from Arkansas ) and staying with them is dirt cheap. Plus you will have two new friends in England. I'm planning on returning next year. Thanks for a GREAT detecting adventure.

    Your Friend From Arkansas,
    Gary

    (where else in the world will someone boast that they ate a 'spotted dick' happily !!!!

    Boston Beau's testimonial

    Boston Beau and Will

    It has been nearly two months (boy am I slow) since my wonderful trip the U.K. As a full-time U.S. Army Officer things have been a bit busy and the week I had in England was a wonderful distraction from what has been going on in other parts of the World. Not a day has passed that I have not thought of those incredible fields and "keepers" that are still there waiting for some lucky detectorist to put his/her coil over. The visit I had with both of you was all I could have hoped for and more: Hunt all day; clean-up some finds; fill you belly with great traditional foods; off to bed; and do it all again the next day!! WOW

    If your into serious metal detecting, Michele's package is the best deal out there. Accommodations were very comfortable and I was amazed at how "at home" I was made to feel.Are these fields "hunted out", absolutely not!! but, it does take some serious work (and a little bit of luck) to put keepers in your pouch. I would not want it any other way. In addition, they are aggressively adding additional lands to his list of hunting opportunities. There will be great find opportunities for years to come. In closing, the visit I had was all I could have hoped for and more. Thanks again for a most enjoyable experience. As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say "I'LL BE BACK"

    Best Regards, Beau

    Beau J Freund Ph.D.
    LTC, U.S. Army

    Californian Ron wrote:

    Thank you for a nice two weeks of detecting. You were great hosts. Everything was as you said. Good detecting. Terrific meals. What really impressed me was all your fields were rolled. It would be hard to go back to detecting in stubble.

    California Ron