Legendary Old Boy gives Amazing Permission.

[Ringpullstiltskin]

Hi all, sorry to gloat but........................................................................... I've just got in from a permission hunting trip and am I excited Oh Yeah!!

I just met the nicest, funniest, poshest, oldest, most welcoming farmer;

I've been thinking about this place for a while but when I approached similar properties I've always had a 'No' but I was out giving my lad driving practice for his test and decided to confirm it would be a 'No' as I was sure thats what I'd get.

Anyway the place is on the outer edge of an old village and is called 'XXXX Court' the XXXX being the village name, which suggests to me it was the admin hub of the original village. The buildings are rambling half timbered farm with a big brick house.

Well, I approached through the front yard and as I did, a woman dressed as a nurse came out. I asked if she was the owner but it was apparent that she was Eastern European. I said I was hoping to speak to the owner and she just ushered me straight in.

She called out to the owner to say a man was here to see him and I quickly added, 'Sorry, I'm not expected.' Before I could see him I heard a man say, 'Would he like a coffee?' 'Blimey' I thought, this is going well.

I was shown in to a small office where a very old man was surrounded by papers and books. He looked like your classic elderly 'Gentleman Farmer' and he spoke with that - 'I think I was drunk at the time...' voice.

I introduced myself, thanked him for seeing me and came straight to the point - any chance of permission.

His answer - "Of course my boy but where to send you!"

He then spent the next half hour telling me all manner of historical detail such as where the old wheelwright lived and for generations before him, where the spoil pile is from the pond they dredged 40 years ago, where they used to wash out the carts and where the original village buildings were.......... He's been there 60 years!

He was such an interesting man I could have been there all day and he seems keen to chat so I'm going to pop back with a map to clarify the boundaries and my best finds to show him.

He even said, "If you find anything, all I ask for is a nice photo."

I'm almost in tears here I'm so excited

[Allectus]

What a result! ....sounds very godd RPS

Best of luck with it mate

A

[ub40]

nice one .can i be your best mate . all the best hope you do well

[sxsi]

"But I was very.... very... drunk...." Classic!

Well done! If he's lonely, it would be nice if you could spend a bit of time with him in return

[kopparberg]

what a result sounds like you have one hell of a permission there ,look forward to seeing some of your finds

[FREEBIRDUK]

Soooo when are you taking me???
Ha Ha,,

[barny]

very rare to get grownd like that well done

[ironage]

worth the asking then.......... HH.

[Sheddy]

Most excellent!

It reminds me of a door a friend and I knocked on for permission. We were given a straight up "no" as they already had someone detecting the land ... but would we like to see what he had found? We were invited in and given a tour of the house, parts of which date from the 9th century - apparently it's one of the oldest buildings in the country still lived in. The lady of the house made us a nice cuppa and they showed us some pocketed folders of what this detectorist had found over the years ... he'd apparently handed EVERYTHING he found over to them (except scrap) after he had cleaned and identified it. It was a stunning record .... especially stunning as there were no hammys with any real detail on, no roman silvers, no broaches in decent condition but lots of knackered hammys, knackered broaches and plenty of grots, buttons and other "stuff". there wasn't anything of any financial value. I very gently asked if it was a complete record of if the good stuff was elsewhere ... they assured us it was complete as the detectorist wasn't interested in the finds, only in building up a picture of the lands history. i didn't comment.
When we left the house they asked us to wait a moment ... and disappeared for a conflab. when they came back they said we could detect there but we had to do so on the same terms as the existing permission holder.

We declined saying it would be a shame to usurp his research so far.

there's no way we could go onto that land well knowing that the only way to be honest would be to dob another detectorist in who was obviously being less than honest. We have since goained permissions on most of the land surrounding this farm and it's no real surprise that it productive with lots of the bits missing from the "record" created by the other detectorist.


(sorry to hijack)

[Danzigman]

Congratulation and all the best of luck..
Should keep you occupied for a few years. Look forward to se the huge numbers of nice find soon - you have to tke the photo anyway ..
John

[Ringpullstiltskin]

"But I was very.... very... drunk...." Classic!

Well done! If he's lonely, it would be nice if you could spend a bit of time with him in return

Cheers all

I thought about that when I was chatting to him. I did say that I'd be happy to give him a hand with anything if he needs some labour.
I will definitely go back and see him soon to check the boundaries etc and if today was anything to go by I'll be there a while He really was very chatty telling me all about some interesting wartime stuff as well. He might well be a bit lonely and if so I'll be sure to pop by regularly but for all I know he might have all his family living there and they were just out Either way he's a real character and a really nice change after lots of awkward 'conversations' with non-communicative 'No No No No' merchants
BTW despite his offer I've come to the normal 50/50 arrangement with him.

Just a quick comment on Sheddy's story - I was able to reference a farmer he knows who currently has the two gold celtic staters I found for valuation to reassure him ref my integrity.

It is obviously always tempting to keep a find but I think most people are like me and would feel guilty every time you looked at a find if you'd hidden it. Also you could never freely show and share your collection and imagine the shame you'd feel if you got found out not to mention the immediate permanent end to your permissions SO DON'T DO IT KIDS

[baz1sue2]

Well done mate, sounds like you,ve dropped on there..i think i,d enjoy talking to the old boy as much as the detecting....

[Philthy Phil]

Cracking news mate, good for you!!!

[alfaowner]

Hi all, sorry to gloat but........................................................................... I've just got in from a permission hunting trip and am I excited Oh Yeah!!

I just met the nicest, funniest, poshest, oldest, most welcoming farmer;

I've been thinking about this place for a while but when I approached similar properties I've always had a 'No' but I was out giving my lad driving practice for his test and decided to confirm it would be a 'No' as I was sure thats what I'd get.

Anyway the place is on the outer edge of an old village and is called 'XXXX Court' the XXXX being the village name, which suggests to me it was the admin hub of the original village. The buildings are rambling half timbered farm with a big brick house.

Well, I approached through the front yard and as I did, a woman dressed as a nurse came out. I asked if she was the owner but it was apparent that she was Eastern European. I said I was hoping to speak to the owner and she just ushered me straight in.

She called out to the owner to say a man was here to see him and I quickly added, 'Sorry, I'm not expected.' Before I could see him I heard a man say, 'Would he like a coffee?' 'Blimey' I thought, this is going well.

I was shown in to a small office where a very old man was surrounded by papers and books. He looked like your classic elderly 'Gentleman Farmer' and he spoke with that - 'I think I was drunk at the time...' voice.

I introduced myself, thanked him for seeing me and came straight to the point - any chance of permission.

His answer - "Of course my boy but where to send you!"

He then spent the next half hour telling me all manner of historical detail such as where the old wheelwright lived and for generations before him, where the spoil pile is from the pond they dredged 40 years ago, where they used to wash out the carts and where the original village buildings were.......... He's been there 60 years!

He was such an interesting man I could have been there all day and he seems keen to chat so I'm going to pop back with a map to clarify the boundaries and my best finds to show him.

He even said, "If you find anything, all I ask for is a nice photo."

I'm almost in tears here I'm so excited

Nice one mate

[stubble hunter]

Congratulations !
Great heart warming story and I am sure you will reap the benefits over the years ahead.
Never say never eh
Well pleased for you anyway !
Cheers !
John

[alloverover]

Nice going Ringpull, i think you have a very happy future together, he sounds a right nice geeza mate

[blacknred]

well done he sounds like a great bloke

[Gwawrer]

What a great story and the best of luck

[egon999]

Sounds a real character and what a fantastic permission. It should give hope to some of the forum members who just get shaking heads on their permission hunts