A holiday you'll dig: the joys of a metal detecting holiday at Butley Abbey Farm in Suffolk

A stay you will dig! Metal detecting is booming in the UK and a Suffolk farm, renowned for its buried riches, is offering short breaks for 'detectorists'. The Mail gears up... Butley Abbey farmhouse in Suffolk offers short breaks for 'detectives' Butley is near Sutton Hoo, the site of the ship's burial featured in the film The Dig 'There's No probably no better county in England to detect,' expert says Max Davidson is trying out the 'playful, but quite exhilarating' hobby...
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Published: 09:46 BST, 5 July 2022 | Update: 10:20am BST, 5th July 2022

Found anything, Max? A few rusty nails and a pull ring. You, Andy? A penny from 1968.’ ‘Jules?’ ‘No. Pellet from a pheasant shoot.'
If I sound like a character from the BBC sitcom Detectorists, it's because that's what that I became for the afternoon. I'm criss-crossing a Suffolk field with middle-aged guys with metal detectors, looking for buried treasure.
On some level , it's ridiculous ; to another, quite exhilarating. Who would have thought that the UK tourism industry would have come up with such a weirdly brilliant holiday idea?

Metal detecting is booming, not just because of the TV series, but because many people have discovered the riches of our green and pleasant land - like the Staffordshire Hoard, a priceless collection of Anglo-Saxon treasures discovered by a local scout in 2009.
Now landowners Edward and Clare Greenwell offer short breaks for scouts, and history buffs in general, at Butley Abbey Farm on the grounds of 13th century Butley Priory.
They could hardly have picked a better time...

Travel Jul 7, 2022 0 111 Add to Reading List

A holiday you'll dig: the joys of a metal detecting holiday at Butley Abbey Farm in Suffolk

A stay you will dig! Metal detecting is booming in the UK and a Suffolk farm, renowned for its buried riches, is offering short breaks for 'detectorists'. The Mail gears up... Butley Abbey farmhouse in Suffolk offers short breaks for 'detectives' Butley is near Sutton Hoo, the site of the ship's burial featured in the film The Dig 'There's No probably no better county in England to detect,' expert says Max Davidson is trying out the 'playful, but quite exhilarating' hobby...

Published: 09:46 BST, 5 July 2022 | Update: 10:20am BST, 5th July 2022

Found anything, Max? A few rusty nails and a pull ring. You, Andy? A penny from 1968.’ ‘Jules?’ ‘No. Pellet from a pheasant shoot.'

If I sound like a character from the BBC sitcom Detectorists, it's because that's what that I became for the afternoon. I'm criss-crossing a Suffolk field with middle-aged guys with metal detectors, looking for buried treasure.

On some level , it's ridiculous ; to another, quite exhilarating. Who would have thought that the UK tourism industry would have come up with such a weirdly brilliant holiday idea?

Thrill of the chase: Butley Abbey farmhouse is a perfect base for detectors

Metal detecting is booming, not just because of the TV series, but because many people have discovered the riches of our green and pleasant land - like the Staffordshire Hoard, a priceless collection of Anglo-Saxon treasures discovered by a local scout in 2009.

Now landowners Edward and Clare Greenwell offer short breaks for scouts, and history buffs in general, at Butley Abbey Farm on the grounds of 13th century Butley Priory.

They could hardly have picked a better time...