About Me

The two questions I get asked the most often when I'm banging on about history and my hobby are, "where did your love of history come from?" and "how did you get into metal deteting"? 

I was bought up on history, encouraged to be curious and to seek out facts. As a child, my favouite day out was to go to a National Trust property or stately home and when everyone else was watching cartoons and Disney, I was watching the old musicals like Meet Me in St Louis and period films like Gone With The Wind. As a little girl I would ask my dad take me into the field with a hammer and chisel so  I could crack open rocks, looking for fossils, I'd devour historical novels and daydream of floating around in period costune....I couldn't get enough of the past. The Vikings terrified and excited me, the Tudors fascinated me and the Georgians thrilled me and as I got older and realised the modern world didnt always fill me with the same joy, I sought comfort in the past even more.

I always said I should have done a history degree, but I pursued a different career path. History is my hobby, my passion and my life (just not my job) and perhaps that has kept the fire and the desire to always keep learning, burning strong.

My entire adult life has been filled with much of the same.....a comforting mix of visiting historic sites, reading, researching, learning and kind of living vicariously through the past. Quite why I have always felt so connected to it I have no idea (thats definately a topic to explore on another day).

A country girl at heart, I grew up riding horses. I was always outdoors. When I gave up horses I loved long walks in the countryside instead, delighting in the wildlife and beautiful views and landscapes. Then temporarily in 2020 the world changed for us all. I live on a farm (no longer working) and had in the past dabbled with an old, cheap and terrible detector. Then, just as we were all able to socialise and mix again, a friend of the family asked if he could detect on our land and bought a spare detector with him....half hour in and I knew I was hooked. Then possibly 6 months later (during which time I told myself I was going to buy myself a metal detector but never did), my brother in law who was also detecting by that time, started his own metal detecting club. On the clubs first dig, he messaged to say they had found a scattered hoard. It was 1st April and so there was some doubt that it may be a wind up.....so of course I had to go and see for myself.

It wasn't a wind up. They had indeed found a small scattered purse spill of Henry II coins. Around 35 in total. Whilst I was there, one of the guys gave me the opportunity to have a go with his detector and I found a small and very squashed thimble. I left knowing I was going home to order my very first detector that night.  

Fast forward 3 months and I was attending weekly digs, had several permissions of my own, had set up my Instagram account to record my adventures and finds and had been asked to write for Crawfords Metal Detectors for their Women In Detecting blog.  You can read it here. Fast forward another few months and I had been asked to join Crawfords team of Ambassadors, featured on the Detecting History Podcast, had been interviewed for two national Newspaper articles (one of which was published by the Telegraph), had featured in Treasure Hunting Magazine and had been involved with an archeological dig to uncover a Civil War Bastion at Hartlebury Castle (a bucket list experience for me). Metal detecting gave me so much confidence to get out there and do what I love and I am very grateful to the kind and knowlegeable people who have helped me learn (and continue to do so) whilst on this amazing journey.

 www.instagram.com/girlthatdigs 

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