Can you provide a sample code in which we can tweak?

Thanks for the help

       @foreach($place->attested[$counter] as $attestation)

            
         //so attestation at this point should be an array 
         //however it comes out as strings

        @endforeach

It is from the $place Model which when debugged looks like this https://www.dropbox.com/s/uelptxl707thd8t/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-25%20at%2012.36.59.png

What is $counter? Isn't it just @foreach($place->attested as $attestation)? Can you var_dump your $place->attested[$counter] or $place->attested objects?

@barryvdh thanks for the help

$counter is used cos I am trying to essentially link two ordered items this loop is inside another , I think by questioning that you have made me realise this is getting overly complicated for a view and the work would be much better done at a higher level

@foreach ($place->historicalForm as $historicalForm)

    <li><a href="#histform-<?php echo $counter;?>">{{ $historicalForm}}</a>

        <!-- attestations -->
        @if($counter<count($place->attested))
        @foreach($place->attested[$counter] as $attestation)

            <?php $att =  (array) $attestation;?>
            {{var_dump($att)}}

        @endforeach
        @endif
        <!--end -->

    </li>

    <?php $counter++;?>
@endforeach

this is what I was doing - which results in array(5) { ["histform"]=> string(5) "Ackle" ["sources"]=> string(2) "Ch" ["sourceId"]=> string(4) "bu15" ["dates"]=> string(4) "1228" ["attestation"]=> string(23) "'wood of Ackle' 1228 Ch" } from the var_dump