Hertfordshire Bronze Age axe hoard found by detectorist, 13

A 13-year-old girl uncovered a hoard of Bronze Age axes on her third metal-detecting trip.

Milly was scouring a field near Royston, Hertfordshire, when she made the find - the first of 65 artefacts dating from about 1300BC.

When her father dug out the first one, Milly said they joked it might be an axe - and it was.

Archaeologists were called in to excavate the entire hoard, which will be sent to the British Museum, London.

Milly, from Suffolk, had only recently taken up her father's favourite hobby of metal-detecting.

The pair were on an organised trip when they came across the first axe head.

"It was my third time out and I didn't quite know what I was doing," Milly said.

"I got a signal and yelled at my dad and when he started digging he went 'this could be an axe', and he was joking around about it."

They managed to unearth about 20 items, but the site had to be covered up until archaeologists could excavate it professionally the following day.

By the time they finished, they had a hoard of 65 Bronze Age items.

Milly said if she was offered any money for her find, it would be split equally with the landowner.

Asked what she might spend it on, Milly said: "My dad's got this thing that we call a 'diggie tool' - like a really small shovel - I would love to get one of those."

Her mother, Claire, said it had been "absolutely manic" since the find, with lots of people interested in hearing about what happened.

"Because it's happening to us it's lovely anyway, but it's also nice that it's happy news rather than some of the depressing news we've had lately," she said.

"I think their ultimate aim is to find some gold, but who knows. You just have to be lucky and walk over it, apparently."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]