I'm still a detecting newbie, and I tried my first permission request yesterday. Unfortunately it was a disappointing no. The place in question was a 20-acre plot of land that has been worked as a farm since the mid 1830s. The woman just recently sold 19 of the 20 acres, which contains an old house, old barns, numerous fields, etc. She was very pleasant and called the new land owner, who is going to develop the farm area and put in some athletic fields. His response, over the phone was 'absolutely not', he would not let anyone onto the property for liability concerns, and because the old house was dilapidated, and planned for tear down in the next week. I tried numerous times to get the new owner to let me just check the fields, and stay clear of the house, but no go on several attempts. Aside from the big let down of not being able to look here, is the fact that this old farm has nearly 200 years of working history, and in a matter of months, it will be bull dozed and stripped away...seems like a huge shame to me...