The Italian troops camp was in the old Pipe Band hut, now demolished to make way for the new Coquetdale Cottage Hospital.

So a captured Second World War soldier from Napoli could find himself looking out over the twisted brown bracken across at Simonside and possibly think of home and Vesuvius looming over the Bay of Naples.

But it was another amazing discovery that left us gob-smacked as we covered miles on our wanders through the hills as kids.

We were playing in the dense trees beside a disused quarry above the village when we found the first giant carved bust lain against a tree trunk covered in overgrown green foliage.

As we cleared it away in astonishment, the distinct face of Queen Victoria emerged.

A huge, intricately cut profile of the monarch on a solid block of stone with a perfectly rounded back about four foot by four foot and two foot thick. Each bead on the necklace around her neck precise, a thin covering of green moss covering the grey rock.

As we ventured deeper into the wood, we found another. And another. In total we discovered five unique craftsman-made perfect stone heads hidden and left long neglected in the thick, leafy darkness.

Why five examples of such fine Northumbrian tradesmanship should have been left abandoned for 100 years we did not know.

The high standard of the work meant they were obviously valuable – even as kids, we could see that. We attempted to move one, but the huge weight meant that we could hardly shift them.

Over the years the lads would often discuss the heads in the wood and concluded that they must have been carved by quarry workers, possibly for a grand house or pub. But why they had been left in the trees and forgotten was a mystery.

I decided to take my young niece up to the woods to show her our secret find and hand it to a new generation, but the heads were gone. Vanished.
To my disbelief, someone had had them away. Or, if I'm absolutely truthful, beaten me to it!