My son and i are looking to seek permission to metal detect in the norwich, south norfolk or north suffolk area

[Norfolkdetectorist]

Hi I dont know If any land owner can help me with permission to metal detect your land?I am struggling as I do not not any landowners. Any rules will be respected and every single find found will be shown to you. If anything of any value is found it would be split 50/50 between the landowner and myself and also there is a bottle of whiskey or a tipple of your choice just for my gratitude. Would be great to hear back from someone. Many thanks Jacob

 

[onthehoof]

It gets me how detectorists think they’re being generous in giving the farmer half of what his property is worth just for finding it, bit like if you dropped your wallet in my field and I said I’ll give you back half of what’s in it.
Of course I could just keep it and pretend I hadn’t found it.
Sorry but it’s hard to trust people these days.
Have had many people here in the past and strangely none of them have ever told me what they’ve found.

 

[fabs]

It gets me how detectorists think they’re being generous in giving the farmer half of what his property is worth just for finding it, bit like if you dropped your wallet in my field and I said I’ll give you back half of what’s in it.
Of course I could just keep it and pretend I hadn’t found it.
Sorry but it’s hard to trust people these days.
Have had many people here in the past and strangely none of them have ever told me what they’ve found.

Hi onthehoof, I hear what you're saying. I am very sorry to read that you have had experiences that made you doubt the sincerity of some detectorists. That's of course never desirable.

The 50/50 split however is not an arbitrary decision made by detectorists but regulated by the Treasure Act.

Here the link to the Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practice (2nd Revision) England and Wales

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...de-of-practice-2nd-revision-england-and-wales

and here below the section that contemplates the relevant scenario. I hope this helps clarifying:

II. Guidelines for the payment of rewards where the finder is searching for artefacts.

Those eligible to receive rewards are the finder(s), landowner and/or occupier. Where the finder has a valid permission from the occupier or landowner to be on the land where he made his find in order to search for and remove artefacts he will receive his full share of the reward. The burden of proof as to whether he has permission will rest with the finder. It is normal practice to divide rewards equally between the finder and landowner on a 50:50 basis unless another form of agreement has been reached between them

 

[JP1]

Some detectorists give there farmers all there finds or have a chat and work it out like adults shame there’s some daft ones like you your the guy that moans and never lets anyone on your land and there could be hundreds of thousands worth there and your cleaning up cow poo everyday ? your a joke it would probably be buried forever if it wasn’t for us what a stupid comment that was why bother have you not heard that phrase if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all you ? and I’d rather get my wallet bk with half in it then nothing at all ever what a thick muppet ?

I don't think you're doing yourself many favours name calling a fellow TFFer to be honest. There are ways of putting your point across

Any more and your comments will be moderated or deleted

 

[fabs]

Steve1234, I am sure you’re not a bad guy but honestly, I can’t understand what you were either thinking or trying to accomplish when you posted your reply.
Come on man, as detectorists on a farming forum we are merely guests here and shouldn’t forget that.
For some farmers we are not even that welcome to be fair and sadly your response makes me realize why.
I am personally trying to build solid and healthy relationships between farmers and detectorists and I’ll also be happy to take metal detecting conversations out farming forums (hence the reason why I’m actually here) but until then let’s be gracious guests and contribute positively to the forum. Please!

 

[Farmer996]

I'd rather be a childish daft moaner joker stupid clown thick muppet cleaning up cow poo all day than allow mental defectives anywhere near my land.

 

[Grandad Pig]

I don’t often post here but regularly lurk about. I can see this issue from both sides of the hedge. I have been involved with agriculture throughout my life, as an agricultural engineer and now as a lecturer in agriculture at a nearby college.

I have a vintage tractor and have even entered local ploughing matches. I am also a metal detectorist. Two nearby farmers have given me permission to detect, one is, or politely pretends to be, interested in what I find, the other has asked I only contact him if/when I find the Saxon hoard. I never detect on a growing crop, there are plenty of headlands and footpaths to work on, several fields are down to permanent pasture, so no issues there.

it is indeed a sorry state of affairs when land owners have lost trust in people to such an extent but fully understandable I am afraid. Seeing the way some detectorists trample crops, leave unfilled holes and block field entrances with cars. Also there is the problem that if other would be detectorists see one searching a field they see that as a reason to pester the farm office to see if they can get permission or, worse still, detect the land without permission, assuming its alright to do so.

Posts like that above are NOT representative of most detectorists, and make life much harder, confirming the stereotype, for the rest of us. But blanket bans are equally unfortunate. I like to think my two local farmers trust me and I would certainly never do anything to betray that trust. Everything I find on their land is theirs by right, but, strangely, they do not seem interested in the buckets of tinfoil, old tractor parts and horseshoes.