A WOMAN whose husband dug up her lost gold ring on a carrot in his vegetable patch 12 years later features in a new book.

The authors argue that the find, revealed exclusively in a story in your County Gazette, wasn't a coincidence - in fact they believe it is an example of something that is almost bound to happen.

Lin Keitch couldn't believe her eyes last August when she discovered the muddy ring with a heart-shaped amethyst on a carrot her keen gardener husband Dave had left in a tub outside the back door.

She told the Gazette at the time that finding the piece of jewellery given to her by Dave as a 40th birthday present back in 2006, was "a chance in a million".

She said: "Dave dug up the carrots and threw them in a tub outside the back door without noticing anything.

"I picked them up and put them in a bowl of water to wash along with some potatoes and then saw the ring in front of me.

"It was so amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was great to get my ring back after all those years.

"When Dave came in, I said, 'Guess what I've found - look' and he said, 'I've looked for that every time I've done that garden'."

It was the couple's daughter, Sarah, actually lost the ring in their garden in School Road, Monkton Heathfield, after Lin gave it to her because it had become too small for her finger.

She said: "We searched high and low but couldn't find it. I was gutted and never thought it would turn up again.

"Although I had handed it down to her, I'm deciding whether to give it back to her or not. I may just clean it up and keep it in a box."

The tale features in Beyond Coincidence, by Martin Plimmer and Brian King, who admit "such things certainly don't happen every day".

They write: "Now, if Lin had won the Lottery (a 45 million to one chance) on the same day that carrot turned up, we'd speculate that mysterious forces were at work.

"But the 'law of truly large numbers' explains how such things are not just possible; they are almost inevitable.

"With a large enough sample size, any outrageous thing is likely to be observed.

"What's more, because we never find it notable when likely events occur, we highlight unlikely ones and notice them more."