RARELY is a TV series so beautifully written and filmed that images haunt you for ages afterwards.

For me, they don’t come much closer to perfection than Mackenzie Crook’s subtle, bittersweet Detectorists.

I loved everything about it – not least its theme tune, a folky dirge by Johnny Flynn that keeps swirling around my brain, reminding me that we have no notion what precious relics lie inches beneath our feet.

We may be searching for treasure only half a yard to the left or right, but if it’s the wrong place it might as well be half a world away. (Gosh, that sounds deep and meaningful!) So it was truly exciting to read that what experts are hailing as the “extraordinarily well-preserved remains” of an important Roman villa have been discovered, purely by chance, at rug designer Luke Irwin’s farmhouse not far from Tisbury.

How fortunate that while he was away, the local builders who were laying electricity cables when they struck gold (not literally, of course!) had the good sense to do the right thing – stop digging, clean off what they’d found, take advice, and work with the experts.

The firm, Burfitt & Garrett, even chipped in £2,000 towards the cost of the subsequent dig by Historic England and Salisbury Museum, and loaned them a couple of labourers for a day, which deserves a pat on the back.

Unfortunately, given the parlous state of our public finances, the mosaics and walls have had to be reburied until archaeologists unearth enough loot to continue excavating. Wouldn’t it be funny if similarly significant finds lay buried at Old Sarum airfield?

Noises emanating from the owners suggest it is increasingly likely that a development of 460-odd houses there will be cleared for take-off.

They say agreements have been struck with Highways England and Wiltshire Council, as well as with their noisy neighbour Equinox International, and that Wiltshire will “shortly” be consulting us, the public, on a revised version of the highly controversial scheme.

If I were a planner, I’d be glad to see the back of this one! Opponents can only hope the council isn’t about to cave in under pressure.

Incidentally, if Old Sarum Airfield Ltd can invest at least a million pounds in persuading Equinox to go away, how come they can’t afford to repair their listed Belfast truss hangar, which appears to be in a very sad state?

I wonder what future generations will think of our attitude to our own recent history when they dig up what remains of this First World War survivor?

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