Three Detectorists

I first began to be involved with this great hobby around three years ago, when my wife Gayle bought me a Garrett Ace 250 – I just knew it was going to be a good thing from the start.

- Carl Bowden

My brother Stephen and my father Steve also purchased the same model of detector at pretty much the same time, so naturally we all got together and started detecting. At first it was just small forays into our back gardens – in the early stages, even though we didn’t fully know or understand our machines, we were still finding Victoria pennies and other items, and so it progressed from there.

Eventually we gained some local permissions, many of which had some serious history attached to them. I recall finding a creamy white coloured ball-shaped lead thing and thinking “What on earth is this?” Quickly researching it, I discovered that it was a musket ball dating back to the 16th century, and was delighted with it. Of course we all found veritable piles of corroded coins too, most of which were probably Georgian coppers. Once we started really getting into it, we began searching with local detecting groups and going on organised digs – consequently the quality and number of our finds improved drastically.