If you are considering an organized UK trip, I've heard nothing but good about Jimmy Sierra's Discovery Tours. His tours begin and end at the UK airport you fly into. I've never been on one of Jimmy's tours but one of my USA detecting buddies has and speaks highly of them. They are expensive and worthwhile.
His company has full time UK staff to research and secure land with huge potential for excellent finds ... that has not had organized hunting on it before. He pays for exclusive permission for his groups to hunt and works with the UK archie's to have all finds inspected and legally processed for export back to the finder.
Jimmy's tours provide all meals, lodging, transportation, etc. You can read about it on his site. http://www.jimmysierra.com/tour_info.htm
If you aren't careful in checking references, you can easily select a shady operator that may put you on land without permission, may skip out with your money and leave you to pay twice for food, lodging, transportation... and perhaps jail bail.
Some operators use the same ground around their home town and seem to keep finding more "important" coins and relics from the same area fields, year after year ... than logic and reason would support ... raising questions as to if many finds are planted... who knows ...?
If you were the one that spent the money for a tour and you found a terrific coin or relic, you'd want to believe it was not planted ... so sometimes take lightly the references you may be receiving if the operator is telling you his fields have been producing great quantities of stuff for years and years.
I've never gone to the UK to detect on an organized tour. I made some UK detecting friends years ago through a simple business transaction. These folks are well known in UK detecting circles and have helped us (me and one other detecting buddy) network and gain knowledge of good areas to visit.
With four folks (2 yanks, 2 brits) it's easier to gain permission, travel in just 2 vehicles, stay in tiny B&B's in tiny towns, eat in tiny pubs, etc. More folks than that raises local eyebrows and leads to more logistical and image problems than I want to get into here.
We sometimes find good to outstanding finds on fields we hunt. Other times we may spend a few days detecting on unproductive fields but still enjoying the hunt. We also have to arrange thru friends for inspection and export of finds ... this is very time consuming and would be a huge benefit of an organized tour.
I just don't enjoy serious detecting for unplanted coins and relics with large groups of folks (as in a buss load). I prefer the ease of logistics, mobility, and less circus atmosphere of detecting with just 3 other people in the tiny little towns we love to visit and detect.... and the pubs we enjoy each evening, meeting as many locals as possible.
His company has full time UK staff to research and secure land with huge potential for excellent finds ... that has not had organized hunting on it before. He pays for exclusive permission for his groups to hunt and works with the UK archie's to have all finds inspected and legally processed for export back to the finder.
Jimmy's tours provide all meals, lodging, transportation, etc. You can read about it on his site. http://www.jimmysierra.com/tour_info.htm
If you aren't careful in checking references, you can easily select a shady operator that may put you on land without permission, may skip out with your money and leave you to pay twice for food, lodging, transportation... and perhaps jail bail.
Some operators use the same ground around their home town and seem to keep finding more "important" coins and relics from the same area fields, year after year ... than logic and reason would support ... raising questions as to if many finds are planted... who knows ...?
If you were the one that spent the money for a tour and you found a terrific coin or relic, you'd want to believe it was not planted ... so sometimes take lightly the references you may be receiving if the operator is telling you his fields have been producing great quantities of stuff for years and years.
I've never gone to the UK to detect on an organized tour. I made some UK detecting friends years ago through a simple business transaction. These folks are well known in UK detecting circles and have helped us (me and one other detecting buddy) network and gain knowledge of good areas to visit.
With four folks (2 yanks, 2 brits) it's easier to gain permission, travel in just 2 vehicles, stay in tiny B&B's in tiny towns, eat in tiny pubs, etc. More folks than that raises local eyebrows and leads to more logistical and image problems than I want to get into here.
We sometimes find good to outstanding finds on fields we hunt. Other times we may spend a few days detecting on unproductive fields but still enjoying the hunt. We also have to arrange thru friends for inspection and export of finds ... this is very time consuming and would be a huge benefit of an organized tour.
I just don't enjoy serious detecting for unplanted coins and relics with large groups of folks (as in a buss load). I prefer the ease of logistics, mobility, and less circus atmosphere of detecting with just 3 other people in the tiny little towns we love to visit and detect.... and the pubs we enjoy each evening, meeting as many locals as possible.