This was cleverly writen to explain the world of the detectorist which was interesting but almost became mundane. I loved the historical references as it brought so much into relevance. In places this was quite comical but sadly this was not really book for me.

It's fair to say that the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdown that followed, changed lives. Some for the better, as odd as that seems. Travel writer Nigel Richardson is one such person. During a permitted walk around his home he came across a metal detectorist, and so a new obsessive hobby was born. I have a small metal detector that came into my possession a couple of years ago and with my fascination of all things history I thought that this memoir would be interesting. And it is. Being a journalist the writing is good and engaging as expected, with the skill of a great storyteller.

This book is also very informative about metal detecting and the detectorists' world. He joins a club of serious like-minded folk who are competitive but supportive. The amount of detail surrounding the laws and regulations on digging, finding, recording and ultimately selling found items is probably all there is to know on this subject. Even the baddies are included: the dreaded nighthawks. These are people who go on illegal digs under the cover of night and keep their finds secret. Exciting stuff.

The finds are fascinating, especially to historians like me. While not much comes up to the Staffordshire Hoard levels, there are some very interesting discoveries besides the musket balls from the Civil War and Tudor buttons. Viking horse stirrups straps, Medieval pins, coins from all eras, buckles, spoons and jewellery. And something that may have come from Boudica's horse.

The beauty of this hobby is that the English landscape is looked at differently. As Richardson says, he would have chosen Albania or Madagascar rather than Hampshire to go treasure hunting, but his local area suddenly appears to be a kind of undiscovered country. There's plenty to learn besides the laws of digging on farmland, from reading old maps and history books to the new jargon and equipment belonging to the detectorists.

​I'm not usually a fan of memoir but I really enjoyed this. Witty and yes, exciting, full of English history, camaraderie and the joys of nature. For many people, metal detecting is therapeutic to escape the stresses of life. For the author, detecting is like 'seeking where I belonged.' I can really identify with this. Wonderful read.

This is a lovely book filled with interesting facts, information and insight. It is warm, funny at times with touches of humanity. It raises some important issues about land, history and what should be preserved, as.well as giving some useful information about metal detecting. Richardson has a writing style that makes the book accessible; there are photos inside and it is nice to dip in and out of. With the stunning cover it's lovely to look at too!

It starts with journalist Nigel writing a gently mocking piece about metal detectorists, a species he thinks of as akin to trainspotters.
But buying a metal detector has him hooked and soon we readers are hooked too.
What’s fascinating to someone who knows nothing about the sport is how prolific and staggering the history behind the finds are.
This is as much a steeping in the artefacts of history and what we leave behind us, as a book about detectorists.
I also enjoyed the camaderie and rivalry between detectorists as they all descend on a field that’s been cleared for use by an obliging farmer!
Recommended: it’s amazing how someone can communicate their passion for a subject that hitherto was of little interest to you. I’m tempted to buy a metal detector myself !

I really enjoyed reading Nigels journey of gentle mocking of the metal detection community to being so ingratiated into the community and finding so much joy from it. A light hearted read but with a lot of heart in it.

I requested this title due to my interest in history and my current preference for nature writing rather than any specific interest in metal detecting, but I'm so glad I did as it turned out to be an unexpectedly enjoyable and joyful read. The writing is warm, witty and nicely self-deprecating, and the author seems down to earth and a genuinely nice bloke. And he describes his newly discovered hobby with such enthusiasm, it is impossible not to be infected - I was totally rooting for him to find his first 'hammered'! I loved his descriptions - of the landscapes, of the people he met and his mind's-eye visions of history - in fact, his internal flights of fancy, triggered by the objects he found, are my favourite parts of the book.

This book is well-written, with a bit of history, a bit of personal stuff, not too technical, lots of humour, that it would be enjoyable to the general reader as well as one with a more specific interest in metal detecting. I really enjoyed it.

This book was interesting about the author's adventures being a metal detectorist and a potted history of things found over the years by detectorists. This book would suit general history readers

I learned a lot and enjoyed the stories about metal detectoring. I found it fascinating and liked the style of writing and the storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This was a very interesting read that I really loved reading. I have always loved the thought of metal detecting. I have even tried it a few times and actually found a bottle top yeah! LOL. Even though I found nothing interesting it was still fun and the author story was definitely fun. This book I really struggled to put it down. Not only did the author write about the highs and lows of metal detecting but it was a book packed full of amazing history. I was totally engrossed from the first page to the last. It was both exciting and very interesting. I learnt so much from reading this book. Which certainly made me very happy as I love learning about new things and other people's personal experiences. This book was wrote so well and flowed nicely. I found it funny reading about the different types of people who enjoy this hobby. The author made it very interesting learning about the etiquette of detecting. I really do recommend reading this book if you want to learn more about this subject or want to learn more about Britain's history from the different types of thongs found and in which areas. I really loved the pictures of his finds. They were fantastic and gave the book that extra dimension. 

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this exciting and so very interesting book. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this fantastic author. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-accidental-detectorist-by-nigel-richardson-octopus-books-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365