THE BBC'S Antiques Roadshow came to Morwellham Quay last Thursday and there was no lack of interest from the thousands of people who queued up to have their household treasures and family heirlooms assessed by the experts.

It was a perfect sunny day on the banks of the River Tamar as people patiently waited in line to have their precious items valued or to receive free advice from familiar faces such as David Battie, Eric Knowles and Henry Sandon.

Among furniture, paintings, books, military memorabilia, silverware, jewellery and ceramics were several items that caught the eye — ranging from several 19th century silverware table pieces, belonging to the Royal Marines at Stonehouse in Plymouth, a toy monkey which is more than 100 years old, an 1827 sword which saw service in India and a replica of a bowl presented to Admiral Horatio Nelson following his sea victory against the French in 1797.

Fiona Bruce, the presenter of the Antiques Roadshow for the past two years, said: 'Presenting the programme is, for me, one of those rare and very lucky coincidences in television when you get to work on a show that you already love to watch.

She told the Times: 'The setting here is stunning, the Tamar Valley is absolutely lovely.

'The great thing of course about this programme is that you never know what's going to turn up next. A few shows ago someone brought in a commendation medal for valour for Billy a RAF carrier pigeon, who during the war flew back from Holland in a storm to deliver his vital message. Fascinating stuff!'

This was a huge joint operation by Morwellham Quay and the BBC, involving more than 110 people on the day. Apart from Morwellham staff there were the volunteer stewards with a huge car parking operation, St John Ambulance staff, and the police.

The BBC brought a crew of more than 60 along with four outside broadcast cameras, two further cameras, a Jimmy Jib camera boon and high density monitor.

Sandra and Brian West of Luckett brought some antiquarian books to expert Clive Farahar. They brought two, from a set of four, books which they had found in the attic entitled 'With the flags of Pretoria', published at the time of the Boer War at the turn of last century.

Although, said Brian, the value was not high — around £20, especially because the books were damp-stained — nevertheless these were good examples of the 'patriotic and jingoistic' publications produced at the time.

Sarah Stirling from Tavistock brought along her 'Nelson bowl' to ceramics expert Fergus Gambon. It was thought that it was presented to the admiral after his naval victory against the French and Spanish at Cape St Vincent in 1797.

The bowl was passed down from Admiral Nelson's younger brother, William Nelson, who married Sarah's husband, William's very great grandfather's daughter — Hilaire Barlow.

Sarah and William, both have master's degrees in maritime history and William works at Morwellham where he built the Alert, an 1835 smuggling lugger.

Although Fergus told Sarah the bowl was a 20th century copy of the original valued at £150, she was not disheartened although the original could have fetched up to £6,000.

Sue Hyde came with her husband Charles from Liskeard with a watercolour painted by the great-great-grandson of Romantic, 19th century artist John Constable. The painting is of Huccaby Farm, Hexbury, and was painted during one of his several visits to Sue's great aunt's farm. She said that regardless of the value given to the piece, it would remain a family heirloom

Colour Sergeant Gary Chapman brought 19th Century ornamental solid silverware from Stonehouse Barracks, where it adorns the dining room table. Also from Stonehouse, Gary brought a sword of honour which was awarded by the Lloyds Patriotic Fund in 1815 to officers displaying utmost gallantry.

A Morwellham Quay spokesman said of the day: 'It was a success and there were around 2,000 people here — we are all very pleased with how the day went.'

The programme is due to be aired on November 15 but this has yet to be confirmed.