I absolutely love garden history.

Whenever I took on a new project I always looked out for evidence of a previous era. Whether that's a change in levels, indented lawns where pathways used to be or overgrown borders hiding something mysterious.

Luckily I got to see hundreds (if not into the thousands) during just over 20 years of business. I found quite a few interesting things excavating for patios and walls etc

I once bought a C-Scope metal detector (not long after they first started to become popular). A lack of success and the because I'd bought a cheap machine meant I gave up.

I've just bought a metal detector to search our land - the law's a little different here in France and it's not totally clear what the rules are. As I understand it you can search land with the permission of the land owner.

However you cannot search land where there are known to be archaeological relics or sites of national importance. It's also an offence to search for objects over 300 years of age (however this is policed I cannot imagine).

I had an hour before dark this afternoon. I wanted to set the machine up and have a play.

It was a bit confusing and sounds were coming from the device's speaker. I decided to search for all metal and not discriminate so I could get a feel for the different sounds.

I eventually found a few bits. Mainly bottle tops and the like.

Well I struck lucky and found a ring of Donna's that my daughter lost in our field not long after we bought the property. We never thought we'd see it again.

I also found this heel plate off of a lady's shoe (I'm thinking Charleston).

Then this lid off of an old toothpaste tin. It's engraved with the words 'Savon dentirfice Paris.

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and I found my first coin. It's difficult to pick out the detail but my son's young eyes established it is an 1853 Napoleon III 2 centime piece

All in all quite chuffed:-))

Have you any tales of finds?