Our first clue sent treasure hunters to Golden Acre — and then, with a little extra nudge, into the children’s play area, where the answer was tucked beneath the swing.

The name is hiding in the opening lines. “Gilded earth” gives us Golden, while “meadow” and “hidden patch” point to a small green space — an acre. Put them together, and Golden Acre starts to come into view.

Once there, the clue zooms in a bit further. “Youthful laughter” and “merry voices” lead us towards the children’s park, while “the place of play and spring” keeps us firmly in playground territory. And then comes the giveaway: “the seat on strings” — the swing.

There’s a good little story behind the name too. This one-acre plot was once home to Bexley Cricket Club, before local builder Philip Hayward & Son bought it in the 1950s for £10,000, hoping to turn it into a housing estate.

But the land had other ideas. Sitting in a natural sunken basin, it was judged unsuitable for building because of flooding and structural risks. The council eventually bought it back for £40,000 — a rather golden result for the builder.

Locals are said to have jokingly called it “Golden Acre”, partly because of the tidy profit made on the deal, and partly because it had become one very expensive acre that nobody could build on.

So there it was: a golden little clue leading to a swing in the park. An easy one to start things off — but they’re about to get a whole lot tougher!