Sometimes it's just nice to be nice

Sharon and I went to a local farm where we have detected on and off for a few years, to ask if we could take our Combat Stress Veterans out on the fields over the next few weeks. The farmer's wife answered the door.  She told us that her husband was round the back in the big shed with the "coos" (milking cows for those less Scottish than us).  She then asked if we had our machines with us, to which I replied that we did not, but was curious as to why she was asking.  She went on to explain that she had lost a gold, platinum, sapphire and diamond eternity ring around a year ago at the back of a shed while pulling turnips.  They had searched for it with no success and as we had turned up at the door, she remembered we were detectorists and decided to ask if we could have a look for it.  We said we would nip back to our home, get our machines and have a go at finding it for her.

Within an hour, we duly arrived back at the farm and went round to the field at the back of a huge shed.  Our eyes bulged and our hearts sank when we saw the size of the turnip field and the remains of a large bonfire, which had littered the area with burnt aluminium foil.  This was obviously the farm midden area that had been used for years to burn rubbish and the remains had subsequently been incorporated into the soil. Sure enough as soon as the CTX 3030’s were switched on, it was obvious the area was totally contaminated with non-ferrous signals.  It was actually worse than detecting on a field spread with supposed “green waste” (biodegradable waste contaminated with thousands of tiny bits of non-ferrous metals).  Heads down we started digging foil, lead and alloy signals, literally hundreds of them.

The farmer wandered over about 30 minutes into the search, and I showed him a lovely post Victorian horse harness buckle I had found, along with all the scrap, but no ring.  We chatted about the Combat Stress Veterans going onto his land with us to detect and he replied that he had no problem with it.  He continued to say that we had no chance of finding the ring and added that the area had been used as a dumping ground for decades - with this cheery news and a huge grin, he wandered off.

After roughly another 30 minutes, Sharon was really feeling the bitingly cold wind and said she was going to the car to get a little warmth.  I said I would carry on searching for a short time to see if I could find the ring.  Ten minutes after Sharon had left, I hit yet another foil signal, put my spade in the ground and popped up a wee clod and there it was, sitting in the soil shining up at me - the lost ring!!

I quickly took some images, switched off my CTX 3030 and wandered back to the car.  I showed Sharon the ring and then we went to the door and we showed the farmer’s wife that we had found it.  To say she was over the moon is an understatement.  She was almost in shock as she took it from me and slipped it onto her finger.  Her face was a picture - she actually got quite emotional and told us to come in for a cup of coffee and that she would call her husband to tell him.  After around ten minutes her husband came into the kitchen and his wife showed him the ring - he was speechless and said that he thought we would have absolutely no chance.  He also asked if we were joking and that the ring had actually been found in the house and we were just pretending that we dug it up!

Needless to say, we had a laugh and a chat, finally ending in the farmer saying we could detect wherever we liked on his land and any time we wanted.  At that, we said our goodbyes and left two very happy people marvelling over a lost ring returned and it felt great!

Catch you all next time for more adventures with the ‘coos’ and in the middens of Scotland.

Slàinte