The owners of a family attraction have recounted their surprise after a metal detector told them that what they thought was a muddy sweet potato was actually a World War I hand grenade.
Bosses at Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park, in Keynsham, were shown images of the grenade by a detectorist searching for historical artifacts in their fields.
And as soon as they knew it wasn’t a vegetable, they called the police and the bomb squad. They managed to get the mud-covered grenade out of the attraction fields without putting anyone in danger.
READ MORE: Missing Bristol man, 26, messaged family saying ‘didn’t know where he was’
The owners of the agricultural park, which is closed until Easter, wrote about the incident on their social media account. Posting images of what appeared to be a small ball of mud, they wrote: “Wow! Last night, a WWI hand grenade was found by a metal detectorist who was granted permission to ‘relic hunt’ in one of the agricultural (sic) fields.
“The police were immediately alerted and the bomb squad arrived to remove it safely without danger to anyone.”
Now they’ve called on the public to help them figure out how it could have ended up in a field at the attraction that has a petting zoo, a playground, a mini train, go-karts and a river ride.
“In the 1950s and 1960s, the council used various agricultural fields as rubbish dumps, so we assume this was disposed of during a house cleaning, but we’re unlikely to know,” the post says. “Do you have any idea how he could have gotten here?
“The photos show how it was found and what it would have looked like originally. It was a lucky spot. I thought they were sending me a photo of a dug up sweet potato.”
The owner thanked the metal detector and the relevant authorities for responding so quickly and professionally.
BristolLive was unable to contact anyone at Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park.
READ NEXT:
j