A honeymoon hunting for English treasure

Young Chang

Fred Booth and Helen Evers-Booth spent half of their 15-day

honeymoon treasure hunting in Norwich, England.

Both members of the West Coast Prospectors and Treasure Hunters

Assn., they had met at the club and bonded in the beginning through

the shared love of hunting for treasure.

They spent much of their honeymoon combing between 60 and 200

acres of historically-rich land with metal detectors for ancient

coins and artifacts.

“My wife and I found coins from the first to 3rd century A.D. and

we found coins and artifacts up to the 20th century,” said Fred

Booth, of Costa Mesa. “These are actual archeological sites -- old

medieval villages, or what remains of them ... There’s a tremendous

amount of history to be dug from the soil there.”

The Booths went to England to participate in the usual tour

circuit -- Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, museums -- and also as a part

of Discovery Tours International, a treasure hunting group organized

in conjunction with the British government and archeologists. Booth

added that the rules are in accordance with the treasure laws in

England.

“They have very, very distinct laws that you have to obey,” he

said. “Anything that’s found over 50-years-old becomes the property

of the crown ... Treasure hunting is really popular in England. We’re

talking from the times of the Celtic people to before Christ, through

the Normans, through the Saxons.”

Booth added that he and his wife would jump up and down in the

middle of fields after finally finding something. The hunts lasted

for eight hours every day for eight days.

“The only break we would take is a potty break,” he said.

Helen Evers-Booth said her favorite part of the trip was taking a

tour through one of the properties on which they were searching. The

owner, an elderly woman, walked her through the 1612 home.

“It was just marvelous,” said the 56-year-old. “It was like a

castle.”

But romantically enough, Fred Booth’s favorite part of the

honeymoon was something even more picturesque.

During the couple’s visit to the little town of Arundel, they sat

at a cafe by a little river. The weather had been dreadful for most

of the trip with rainstorms, Fred Booth said.

“But it was a beautiful, sunny day ... we sat on the river, had

sandwiches and tea, and as we were there, about eight to 10 white

swans came up the river,” he said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to TRAVEL TALES,

330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com;

or fax to (949) 646-4170.