Richardson's writing style is easy enough, conversational with some humour thrown in but there are only so many times you can read someone saying "found anything good?!"

The Accidental Detectorist: Uncovering an Underground - WHSmith The Accidental Detectorist: Uncovering an Underground -

Before he knows it the mysteries of the fields are leading him on, into a world that casts the history of these isles and its people in an intriguing new light.An audiobook for my commute to work. A great little tale about a hesitant journalist's foray into the world of detectorists. For obvious reasons, many a nod to The Detectorists TV show but also some very interesting facts about several detectorist led finds and information for would be detectorists also. I found this book interesting, fascinating and very informative. It was interesting to read how Covid-19 altered this travel writer’s journey in life. Forced to stay in the UK, journalist and writer Nigel Richardson started metal detecting. I would love to be able to do metal detecting too, as I have always been fascinated by looking for treasures. I love going to Whitby, Scarborough and Spurn Point on Yorkshire coast looking for fossils. It is amazing and so peaceful just walking and dreaming of what treasures could be found. The possibilities are endless, and that’s what makes metal detecting so interesting I think. The performance of the reader was definitely 5* as I was kept interested throughout as the voice was clear and concise. Searchers, seekers, hobbyists, all of them falling captive to the allure of the hunt - once unearthed a journey that seems to find its own path - and one which, for the author, is an unmistakably compelling one. Finding himself in the process, as, over the course of one year (outlined in this book), he grows from awkward novice to a devotee embedded in a close-knit community of, some would say, oddballs, but really more aptly described as dopamine-linked journeymen (for this band of brothers is by-and-large male).

The Accidental Detectorist by Nigel Richardson | Waterstones The Accidental Detectorist by Nigel Richardson | Waterstones

The beauty of this hobby is that the English landscape is looked at differently. As Richardson says, he would have chosen Albania or Madagascar rather than Hampshire to go treasure hunting, but his local area suddenly appears to be a kind of undiscovered country. There's plenty to learn besides the laws of digging on farmland, from reading old maps and history books to the new jargon and equipment belonging to the detectorists. Charting his course from utter novice to “one of the crew”, Nigel describes his tentative steps into the hobby, which seems for him to be as much about seeking a sense of identity and belonging — following all the upheavals and upsets of Brexit followed by the pandemic — as it does about buried treasure. Memorable experiences, rooted in landscape and history, could be had in objectively unremarkable places — on the A1, a road I know well, for example.” The first time that Nigel Richardson met a metal detectorist he was sat eating his lunch by the edge of a field. It wasn’t a hobby that had any appeal to him, and in a slightly sneering way, they have a terse conversation and it wasn’t helped by Richardson’s dog pilfering one of the man’s sandwiches. He had changed his mind a little about the men (and it is mostly men) who pursue this hobby after watching the brilliant TV comedy, The Detectorists.This all piqued my own interest in my local area in North Essex. I went onto the finds.org.uk database and typed in Layer Marney, the name of the village where I live. My house is less than a mile from Layer Marney Tower, England’s tallest Tudor gatehouse, so surely there is treasure in these parts? The database has five finds listed, including this beautiful hammered coin. In the local parish of Messing cum Inworth where I grew up, there are finds from Iron Age, Roman, Medieval and Post Medieval times. We are but a stone’s throw from Colchester or Camulodunum to call it by its Roman name as it is the UK’s oldest recorded city. Boudicca and her armies once razed it to the ground. On the database are many Roman coins in the area, perhaps borne by those fleeing her persecution. I shall walk the local footpaths with a new fascination for what may lie under my feet and the people who walked these fields in years gone by. It’s particularly poignant this week. Today Charles the third will be proclaimed King, as we pass from the Elizabethan age into the Carolean age. History in the making. can certainly see the attraction of becoming a detectorist and seems like a good way to improve health and well-being as a bonus. Having absolutely no interest in the hobby, other than watching the TV series I thought I would take a punt and I was so glad that I did. It was a journey that would take him to various parts of the country from his local village to the wide skies of Norfolk. He walked in fields that people had walked across hundreds of years ago and lost the items that he would find later. He would share these experiences with one person sweeping the head of their machine across another part of the field and went to big rallies where there would be hundreds of other detectorists who were as obsessed as he was becoming. The one thing that he want to find was an elusive hammered coin. Everyone else seemed to have found them.

The Accidental Detectorist: Uncovering an Underground Obsession The Accidental Detectorist: Uncovering an Underground Obsession

There is discussion about the value of the finds, both monetarily and historically, and how there is sometimes a disconnect between the priorities and values of detectorists and others. What is more important, monetary value or the story told by finds? Loved it. Superbly written account of the world of metal detecting. So many brilliant anecdotes. Will be hard to beat as my Non-fiction book of the year.The book is about a journey of discovery as well as a physical journey, and a deeper understanding of the land and our relationship with it. Richardson describes his encounters with other detectorists and how he learns from them, both about detecting and life. Scouring the country from Cornwall to Scotland in search of treasure and the best detectorists, Nigel finds himself more immersed in the culture than he bargained for and makes his own personal journey from cynicism to obsession in his trail through the heartlands of metal detecting. From women’s groups who react against the hobby’s male bias, to the ‘Nighthawks’ who risk jail-time in their pursuits, he finds his preconceptions disabused and gets to the heart of what makes this quiet community so obsessed with happy beeps. Thoroughly enjoyed this journey together with the excellent narration. Having also taken up metal detecting in Spain (I am a British expat) around the start of the Covid pandemic I could relate to pretty much the entire story. I often find it hard to get into non fiction books but Richardson’s writing style drew me in and I was keen to find out more about his story. He writes with warmth and empathy as well as some humour along the way. It’s really interesting to find out about his journey into detecting and all the different people he meets, and how his perspectives change. This book is also very informative about metal detecting and the detectorists' world. He joins a club of serious like-minded folk who are competitive but supportive. The amount of detail surrounding the laws and regulations on digging, finding, recording and ultimately selling found items is probably all there is to know on this subject. Even the baddies are included: the dreaded nighthawks. These are people who go on illegal digs under the cover of night and keep their finds secret. Exciting stuff.