All was not lost though , my local shallow tip was just the answer and despite it being a rather a late tip in general , they can throw up a few earlier bottles etc so always worth a dig about and it is literally a foot or so down so nice and easy for my mate to contend with so it was decided we would have a few hours out in the fresh air .
My last trip was my " Art Deco" session and although not quite my thing , my friend who asked me to bring some back was more than pleased with his booty and wanted a few more if I ever decided to go back and have a dig about . It seemed a good idea then to tie the two ends together , get my mate back digging and bring back some more requested gifts .
These late tips never really get the attention they should , they are deemed too late and quite a few bottle diggers get a bit sniffy with anything other than Victoriana or earlier , bottles beyond this period turns many a noses up which in my opinion is very short sighted . I have to agree that I much prefer the older tips just like anyone else but even Codd bottles , Flagons and stoneware Ginger beers ran well after the Victorian era and early stuff does turn up in later period tips , or late chuckouts as they are termed .
Bottle diggers in the 1970s were digging Victorian bottles that were barely 70 odd years old compared to now which run well over a century plus making them ever more desirable items to those interested . Bottles from the 1940s being dug now are in a similar age bracket by comparing those diggers from the 70s yet today they are in some sectors frowned upon as common old rubbish even as far as bottles from the 1920s yet they are a 100 years old . Perhaps tomorrows bottle diggers will see things in a different light and to be honest they won't have much choice as more and more Victorian tips are built upon and lost forever and access is even more difficult to obtain these days .
Part fo the fun for me is being out in the sticks , I love it and even the gentle stroll along the old rail line is a pleasant one . The morning air was fresh with a grey overcast sky and the previous nights rain had left the grassy banks wet and slippery so we had to watch where we trod to avoid a slippery journey down the muddy embankments . We dodged around and through the draping slo berry bushes which when brushed against shook the branches and sprayed us with droplets of rain water , not a nice feeling on such a fresh cold morning but we persevered .
We pass these little fellas along the way , they make a hell of a racket when disturbed and quite a crowd of them strutting their stuff with each one trying to be "cock of the estate " , funny old creatures !
For the next couple of hours we dug and toiled with the endless amount of bottles which were so compact it was hard to get the blade of a spade in the ground and when time permitted we chatted , drank tea and joked about , just a bit of harmless fun on a Sunday morning .
My buddy did well and found a ginger beer bottle circa. 1905 so it just goes to show what can turn up in these later tips and also confirmed there was hope yet of finding something older in amongst the common rubbish .
