Rent a field....

[stoporishoot360]

Ok, going out on a limb here...
I looked to buy a plot of land for a new build house the other day...
Then I thought...."why don't I buy a field?
£5000 an acre at the moment....

Then I thought.....why not rent a plot....maybe 2 or 3 acres....and metal detect it to my hearts content....sod the house.

If I pay a farmer for his land per calender month can I detect upon it and sub lease it to a horsey person?

Yes I am paying to detect if I don't get A horse grazing but I don't really care....

Your thoughts please...

[busterhamer]

Rule number 1 , you must always have the land owners permission as a tennant you would not have this right.

[FUBAR]

I would never rent a plot of land for detecting. I know some farmers who would jump on that bandwagon and some of us could never afford it if renting became the norm. Just my opinion, would like to hear comments/objections from others.

[kopparberg]

a. yes you could rent some land but you would need it confirmed that you can metal detect on it from the land owner as just renting does not give you the right to detect on it .
b. i think if you go down that route it would be a slippery slope as once started and word gets about i think more farmers would jump on the band wagon and it would price many people out of detecting .
the other option is but some land become a farmer and detect the land you farm

[janner53]

Surely metal detecting clubs up and down the country are already doing this. In our club we pay £4 every second Sunday and the farmer gets a payment for letting us detect their land. So really we are renting for a day.

[Jason5223]

I do mean this with the greatest of respect but this is the worst idea I have seen for a while and would have lots of farmers across the land rubbing their hands together.

It would be the biggest mistake since Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings, accidentally ordered 80,000 battle helmets with the horns on the inside.'

[stoporishoot360]

I can understand what you are all saying, and I fully agree with your comments.
However, I was thinking of a particular farmer who lives close by to where I live. I have known him for over 30 years and he point blank does not allow anyone to go on his land. Not even to shoot rabbit's etc....I know if I offered him a tenner he would allow me to detect. But you guys are correct, it would open the flood gates, so to speak.
That's where my original thought came from about renting the land but thankfully the replies have made me see the error in that.

[kopparberg]

I can understand what you are all saying, and I fully agree with your comments.
However, I was thinking of a particular farmer who lives close by to where I live. I have known him for over 30 years and he point blank does not allow anyone to go on his land. Not even to shoot rabbit's etc....I know if I offered him a tenner he would allow me to detect. But you guys are correct, it would open the flood gates, so to speak.
That's where my original thought came from about renting the land but thankfully the replies have made me see the error in that.

you have just gotta do what is right for you m8 if you have no where to detect it might be your only option

[Sheddy]

if you want to pay to detect then go for it. If others can't afford to do the same then it's their look out.

[ub40]

if you want to pay to detect then go for it. If others can't afford to do the same then it's their look out.

i bet you did not share your sweets

[Sheddy]

if you want to pay to detect then go for it. If others can't afford to do the same then it's their look out.

i bet you did not share your sweets

I share everything, even my permissions. I found a guy detecting without permission on one of "my" fields a few weeks back so i furnished him with the farmers name, address and telephone number for him to go get proper permission. I'm not the selfish type but I can't see why someone should be put off of what they want to do on the basis that others can't afford or won't pay out to do the same.

I pay for my shooting grounds, I pay when i go fishing so if the whole detecting hobby went down the pay-as-you-go route then I really don't see a problem with it. Since I started detecting some 30 years ago I've benefited by a fair few £££'s. I've always seen my farmers right but I know that there are many detectorists who think nothing of hiding the choice finds and showing the farmer a pile of scrap. Why shouldn't the farmers benefit in some way from the plundering of their land?

[Black Shuck]

Not sure plundering is a good word to use! We have enough enemies without giving them more ammo to use against us. Just a thought.

[liamnolan]

I made a very similar post last year. My reasoning then (and now) is that it is much easier to simply buy or rent land and then detect to your hearts desire. You could even challenge a few doggy walkers
I have permission from a local hospital trust that owns tons of land and rents it out to tenant farmers. Two fields have not been rented out for a while, maybe waiting for the soil to recover, but I am sure that if I offered to rent it, then they would be agreeable as otherwise it is earning nothing. Detecting will not harm the soil in any way, so its a win/win situation for the trust.
I have spent 20 mins searching for agricultural land for rent around the UK and it varies enormously, do a few searches yourself. One important PLUS for our hobby is that we dont need land that is easily cultivated, flat, fertile, well drained, easy access and so on. Some of the best detecting land can be awkward bits of land around rivers and bridges, perhaps on a slope, trees or shrubs in the way of tractors .... the type of land that an estate agent will perhaps have on his books and be happy to get it earning some cash.
Do your research carefully and If it costs £2000 a year to rent about 25 acres of awkward land that just happens to lie close to recorded history, then divide your costs by a group of ten buddies and you have your own land for £4 a week per person.
You would need to have a good chat with your estate agent first and see what is held on file and then see if it has any historical value.
Liam

[hydraglide]

I suppose where you stand on this is, whether or not you have any land to detect on.

[blacknred]

here is a nice cheap bit of land to rent
http://www.farmingads.co.uk/live_off_gr ... and/168154

[Sheddy]

Not sure plundering is a good word to use! We have enough enemies without giving them more ammo to use against us. Just a thought.

O.K., I'll pick up the baton on this one. What single word descriptive would you use for seqarching a farmers land whilst pocketing the choice gear and showing the scrap? I couldn't care less about our detractors view, especially when they've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

i've been in this game for a long time, I've seen the goody-two shoes portrait painted by ourselves on forums, I know what happens in truth. The Twinstead rally was proof of how detectorists really behave - IF any were needed.

What would you call what we do?

[Philthy Phil]

Sheddy I for one take offence at your comments tarring the majority of detectorists with the same brush..........I have had the pleasure of detecting quite a few of the members of this forum on several different permissions & can assure you that "we" are always straight down the line with our landowners, no "plundering" in the slightest............and as for "painting a goody two-shoes portrait" I always thought honesty was the best policy, it's certainly got me some cracking permissions simply by way of referral!!

[alfaowner]

Blimey sheddy ...

No wonder we have a bad name with posts like that

[Sheddy]

I understand both of your posts and sympathise ..... but! (there's always a but!) Like I say, I've been around this game a long time and I've seen it all go on. I like to deal honestly with my farmers, it's the right thing to do and by doing so I get to sleep soundly at night.
I'd say that those of us who detect for the enjoyment of it, the history of it and the education we gain from it are in the majority and I apologise if I made it sound as though the converse were true - it's not. The majority of us are in the hobby for the thrill of finding the lost change and artefacts of yesteryear. The blatant truth is that there is a section of the hobby that are less than honest - as Twinstead proved beyond doubt.

That notwithstanding, why should any hobbyist not pay to rent some land to ensure that s/he has somewhere to detect? The only problem (and we've all suffered this one!) is that you can research the land to your hearts content, all the pointers will be toward the field being a productive one and then you find you've paid out a couple of grand in land rent for a barren field! I have permission on the fields completely surrounding a 13th century church which to date have turned up nothing earlier than 20th century!

[alloverover]

The blatant truth is that there is a section of the hobby that are less than honest - as Twinstead proved beyond doubt.

All Twinstead proved is that there is a section of HUMANITY that are less than honest, shock horror .
On that one particular occasion, (if what is said is true) it was just brought to the fore as that section of humanity had metal detectors and a little known clause in the treasure act came to light, ie if its worth a lot of money and not old,then the law that the Treasure Act replaced will come back into force