Dinosaur Coast, also known as the Fossil Coast stretches for around 35 miles along the east Yorkshire shoreline, some of the fossils found here are 120 million years old and you can even see dinosaur’s footprints still visible on the beach.

Located on the southernmost tip of East Sussex, the chalk headland of Beachy Head showcases 17 million years of sediment deposition and fossils recorded in the chalk cliffs and surrounding beach.

The 95-mile stretch of the East Devon and Dorset coastline (designated as England’s only natural World Heritage Site in December 2001) is a fantastic place to see some superbly preserved fossil remains ranging from the Triassic period, right through to the Cretaceous. Equally, the Isle of Wight has some brilliant locations such as Alum and Whitecliff Bay respectively.

Finding fossils can prove more difficult at Marloes Bay than at other locations. Consisting of four main geological groups – Skomer Volcanic, Coralliferous, Gray Sandstone and Old Red Sandstone – visitors pass through each group in turn (heading south) until reaching the end of the bay. The Coralliferous Group offers the best chance to view fossils including a wealth of marine organisms.

White Park Bay sits between two headlands on the North Antrim coast. Fossils, though not abundant, are common and if you know what to look for, the beach can reveal a trove of other archaeological evidence, including Neolithic tools.

More an amalgamation of smaller, more ancient mines, Botallack Mine in West Penwith, Cornwall sits atop the cliffs over looking the ocean. There is evidence of tin mining going back as far as the 17th century on this site and visitors can see the ghostly remains of the mine’s buildings still clinging to the Cliffside.

Two engine houses form part of the scattered remains of Wheal Trewavas Mine on the Cornish coast. Perched precariously atop the cliffs, the mine opened in 1834 and a plan of this time shows four copper lodes and one tin lode in operation. Exercise caution on the site and the paths leading to it, as the building are in a ruinous condition.

Unsurprisingly, the East Pool Mine is situated to the east of the village of Pool in Cornwall. Preserved in excellent condition as part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape it boasts one of the largest pumping engines in the world and an industrial heritage discovery centre where you can learn about the story of Cornish mining.

One of the most important Bronze Age copper mines ever discovered; the Great Orme Mines are now a fee-paying attraction where visitors can explore the impressive caverns and winding tunnels of the mine on a self-guided tour.

Located in Cumbria, the Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre testifies to the legacy of the mining industry that once dominated the landscape of the North Pennines. Visit Carr’s Mine to learn more about what was once one of the most productive mines in the country, producing lead and zinc over a period of three centuries.

The Royal Charter wrecked in Dulas Bay on Anglesey in 1859, taking with it 459 lives and a consignment of Australian gold. Many passengers were said to be weighed down by belts of gold. Treasures were rumoured to have washed up on Porth Alerth beach, making local families rich.

Just off Rhossili beach in the Gower Peninsula lies a shipwreck from the 1600’s, nicknamed the Dollar Wreck after Spanish silver dollar coins were recovered from the surrounding sand in 1834.

A caravan of King John’s treasure was famously lost to a rising sea in 1216, while he was attempting to cross The Wash between King’s Lynn and Long Sutton. The treasure supposedly includes crown jewels, jewellery and gold coins.

What’s it like to find treasure?

Paul Coleman was in a Buckinghamshire field in 2014 when his metal detector began to beep.

“You can gauge the size of the buried metal by listening to the sound. This was a loud signal, and I could tell the object was quite large, but you can’t really know for sure until you dig.”

So Paul began took out his trowel. As he shifted more clay and silt, the anticipation mounted. “The signal seemed to indicate it was getting larger and larger. By the time I had gone to two feet, I could tell that whatever I was about to unearth was huge.”

At last, Paul struck metal: a humble lead container. He thought it was junk. But then he spotted the bright coins inside, stacked neatly.

Paul had found more than 5,252 silver coins, around 1,000 years old. They bore the faces of their kings: Ethelred the Unready and Canute, who ruled between 978 and 1035. The hoard was unusual partly because the first was an Anglo-Saxon king, the second a Viking; and coins from both are rarely mixed. They were later valued at £1.35 million.

The secret of treasure hunting

Paul’s success didn’t come overnight. “Forty years,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for that long.”

Unsurprisingly, he says that perseverance is the key to metal detecting. “If you put enough time in, you’ll get lucky – you’ll find something really interesting”

The waiting, he reckons, enhances the joy of making a find. “Like angling, or cricket, very little happens for a long time and then you get the big reward. And the time between those moments increases the anticipation.”

Peter Welch runs the 1,000-strong Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club, and was at the scene with Paul when he found the hoard. “Lots of people try detectoring and get disappointed quite quickly when it turns out that it’s not a path to instant riches, that they have to put in the time walking up and down fields,” he says.

The real reward

Some detectorists argue, though, that the real treasure of detectoring is time spent in the countryside.

“People who have taken up and continued detecting tend to appreciate the value of just being outdoors,” says Steve Critchley, a member of the UK’s National Council for Metal Detecting.

Peter agrees: “Some of us are there really to relax, and swinging a metal detector provides a purpose for a walk in the country.”

For Lance and Andy, the main characters in Detectorists, the pleasure of each other’s company is also part of the attraction – although of course they would never say so.

But surely all that fruitless wondering gets a little… dull? Paul is adamant: “It’s never boring because, like fishing, it’s the quiet times that make that lucky catch worthwhile.”

Just as well, because there’s no guarantee of success, no matter how long you spend looking. “People think I’ve achieved something big,” says Pail, “but it’s just a stroke of luck, really.”

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