DetectingWales.com

Any advice available
Is there anywhere other than beaches that i can go detecting without the hassle of tracking down farmers and begging for permission.
Also I do not have the time to commit to joining a club due to irregular work patterns.

Why is there so much secrecy surrounding the location of finds.
I would have thought that as a "Community" of detectorists you would be glad to share the information so that others could visit these sites of interest ?

If you don't want to track down farmers and get permission then you really have no choice but to join clubs.... You already joined this one and there's a rally this weekend that DW is hosting and there will be many more.

Simple answer is "No there isn't" ;) All land in the UK belongs to someone and as such permission is ALWAYS required.
There are a few reasons for the "secrecy" issue, the first being that most farmers give permission for only 1 or sometimes 2 or 3 people to detect their land and if more started turning up then permission would be very soon lost, secondly certain unscrupulous detectorists would start visiting the site (Nighthawking) without permission and thirdly some record their finds with PAS and some don't but with out all finds recorded from a site only half the picture is recorded, all detectorists that come on our sites record end of.
Also why should people share their sites which they have probably gone door knocking for with people who will never seem to reciprocate the gesture because "hassle of tracking down farmers and begging for permission".

bit of a daft question wasnt it???

i cant be arsed to knock but hey lets just on that nice looking feild by that iron age site

LoL

I'm all up for detecting as a 'community' and visiting sites together, but that comes with joining a club or forums.
As for individual land, i don't see a reason for it to be shared with everyone. Alot of hard work goes into finding, researching and asking for permission. Surely the person who puts in the hard work has the right to reap the rewards?

Part of the joy for me is recording my finds and building up a picture of the history of the site. So to have other people removing finds from a site I have put hard work into is not something I would be interested in.

My advice would be to go out there and talk to farmers. It's not begging. Some farmers might even be very interested in you searching their land.

 Seeking permission is just part of the hobby.

Jon

Jesus Guys calm down...
I was only asking a question, as a newbie I was hoping for some friendly advice and a little less confrontational and sarcastic replies ???

Thanks for your help and support ???

sorry mate, werent meant to be a nasty reply

Hi.. pjguy68....

as u are a newbie to detecting, i can defo see your point of view,  esp if u havent always the time in the day to go search for your own sites, and knock on afew landowners doors, to gain permission for detecting, because of  your work commitments ect..
Tho it sounds like good advice, that u sound join alocal aclub,attend some rallys..
tho i will say if maybe afew more detectorists out there, with the land available,and there are plenty !!
would maybe land share alittle more esp with newcomers to metaldetecting, and with those who havent any land or are finding difficult to gain search permission because of whatever reason??..Happier days i reckon !! ;)

Sorry if you felt my reply was in any way hostile towards you. I assure you it was not intended to be, I was simply stating my point of view.

I can understand the view that newbies might find it difficult finding land, but unless you get out there and know on doors it just won't happen.

I'm new to the hobby myself, I have been detecting for just under twelve months. I have managed to gather a couple of hundred acres to search on in this time.

I think the greatest satisfaction I have had from finding my own land is building up the story of the sites recording my finds. One site I have managed to find evidence of a medieval fishing settlement, 17th century trading post right through to 19th century domestic buildings.
I belive if I was to share this location to everything alot of this evidence would have been lost to me.

I'm sure once you have got some land to go on you will understand what I mean.

Another a piece of advice I could give is detecting in woodland or river forshores. but again, make sure you have permission to detect in that area.

 

get down a beach and go for the gold  ;)

tried that.....Found 21p and 3 rusty bottle tops....Oh the joy of detecting..lol

i have been only doing it for a little over a month and took me half of that to get some land ,i first tried phoning farmers but it wasnt a good option didnt have 1 yes, as for work patterns , i work 12 hrs a day plus 2 hrs travelling and have had 2 days off in 52 days , but just use that little time spare to visit a few farmers , the worst they are going to say is no they are not interested . Then when u get urself some land if u have a few hours spare then your land is there waiting for you. You have to put a little in to get something back, i have known people that havnt got land for months and now have loads of farms to choose from , so u must see the point that when they have spent so long hunting for fields they aint going to just hand it out to another person who dont want the hassle in finding thier own ................

it took me 6 years to get my 1st farm

The only answer pjguy68 is to get out there and go door knocking - in my experience someone always eventually says Yes! Nobody ever gets anything given to them on a plate. If you want to detect inland then you need to put some time in to get a farm. Its what we have all had to do.

Good luck with it - and stay positve - you will get a Yes!

Neil

You've not even got to go out and knock doors with the internet.

Use Google Earth to source the farm (By zooming in on the village you wish to detect near , just type in farm in the search box, you will then see all the farms in that area. Click on the red flag and you will have the farm name, Farmers name , Address , Telephone number and post code)

Give the farmer a ring , explain youre new and without land to detect on. Ask  (no begging required) if you could do a days detecting and go from there. It may take 10 or 20 phonecalls but if you're serious about gaining inland detecting fields, 10 or 20 phonecalls is the least of what you owe yourself.

Good Luck.

Thanks all for the advice, I thought it would be a lot more accesible, just buy a detector and off you go...
looks like a few hours on Google and a few phone calls to make ???

thanks all

Dare I say I've never asked for permission. I usually go up the mountain out the way and away to go or maybe find a playground.... Not been on a farmers field without asking, that's asking for agro. Where ever you dig fill the hole in after  :)

Just a thought, if you don't fancy knocking on doors (like me) try a post on Gumtree asking if anyone has land you can search on, Preloved might be worth a try as well under 'Wanted'  ;)

hi pjguy68,
you ve made the 1st step,by joining dw wales,which is great.next step talk to people at rallies etc.
one question to you would be ,if you found a great site,would you want everybody to know about it?

Can i just clear something up..as my first post seems to have ruffled a few feathers.
My fault for not explaining properly.
The comment about sharing locations, was not directed at private property or hard found farm land.
I was, as i have said earlier in the post under the illusion that you could detect almost anywhere (Common Land etc) within reason,
If this was the case then I would certainly share the location of finds with others,
But i can now see others point of view, if you have worked hard to find private land, then, to share that location would be extremely charitable and keeping it to yourself is of course understandable.

Hope this answers your question.

Hi pjguy

It's a shame you've been left with such a bad impression of us. I think initially it was as much our fault as yours. We obviously read your message the wrong way.
IF you lived a little closer and IF I had any decent fields you would be most welcome to share. I'm sure, if you've been raeding the posts, you'll realise that good detecting land is extremely hard to find. Even when you do a load of research and go cap in hand to get permission, it isn't a fore- gone conclusion that you'll find anything.
I hope you carry on and find something nice. Happy hunting. ;D

Val

p.s. I've sent you a PM

yes, reading this thread has shown me how difficult it can be to find a place to detect on.   I also just wanted to know what public places we could detect on without breaking any laws etc or needing permission.   Its horrible being a new person at something and not knowing the rules of the game.   But I'm learning as I read this website and the replies given. :D

Short answer is really , nowhere. All land is owned by someone and as such permission needs to be granted by the owner. Beaches....well thats a grey and really depends on what you would like to find. If you think your grandaughter would be happy finding ring pulls and modern money then I'm sure the beach would be good enough for her. Though Newports beaches are probably not the best place to take a 10 year old girl.

That leaves you with Farm, Park and common land.  You cannot detect parks without permission off the council... they nearly never ever give it. You cannot detect common land as common rights are for grazing , not removing artifacts or coins from the soil. So that really leaves you with Farms. And thats normally where I would consider you to start.

Go to the nearest farm to where you live , with your grandaughter and ask very nicely if the farmer has a quiet paddock where your grandaughter can try out her new machine. Remember to remove any rubbish she finds, close gates , fill holes carefully ext. Have a look around and if you get stuck , come back to me and I'll see what I can do from this end.

Regards  Taff (Rob)

oh gosh, its not as easy as one think is it... my daughter's friend actually works on a farm..maybe that would be a good route to go down..worth a try to ask permission.   Thanks again... and if that fails..beach for ring pulls.. :D

Hi Lily and welcome to DW.
I agree with what Rob said. Try your nearest farm But make sure you take the little one with you. She will almost certainly be a clincher. I hated the idea when I started. Still dont like it much and have had a couple of no's. We do have the advantage over the men though. I always think that most Farmers look at me and think 'What a funny old Lady, what harm can she do' and say yes.
The 1st is always the hardest but if you have a friend who works on a farm, then he/she can vouch for you.

Best of luck and happy hunting.

Val