Lara Maiklem is an author and a mudlark. She told me there’s nothing she likes more than kneeling on the banks of the River Thames for 5-6 hours at a time, scanning the mud for tiny treasures which are twice daily being given up by the tide! 

Lara shares her fascinating finds on Instagram, where I've been following her for a while. Her favourite finds include a Tudor shoe, part of a Roman sword and some tiny gold beads from a necklace which she thinks must have broken as someone was boarding a boat on the river hundreds of years ago.

Lara told me how mudlarking gave her peace and alone time when she moved to London, and how, when their twins were small, her wife used to send her off to mudlark, knowing she’d come back ‘a nicer person’! 

Living near the Thames myself, I think I might try mudlarking too, as I’m still hopeful of finding Mickey’s PJ Masks watch that he threw in the river near Richmond a while back!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

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