Prince of Wales visits Duchy farm

The Prince of Wales has paid a visit to an innovative Duchy of Cornwall farm in Herefordshire.

William was given an hour-long tour on Tuesday of Lower Blakemere Farm, which is spearheading efforts to cut carbon emissions through greener farming practices.

Tenant farmers Phil and Heather Gorringe and their son Monty welcomed the prince to the site which is one of the Duchy's seven Focus Farms, an initiative designed to share knowledge and experiences of the transition to greener farming practices.

"We are so lucky to have had a [royal] visit," said Mrs Gorringe. "It's good for the team."

"I think also it gives you a real boost because we are a Focus Farm. It gives that whole thing a boost, that actually you might be being useful and on the right track."

The farm, which was established in the early 1980s as a specialist seed grower, is also the home of composting equipment provider Wiggly Wigglers.

The prince was shown two types of kitchen waste composting bins, sifting through waste and inspecting composting worms by hand.

As he looked at the wormery bin, he was heard to say: "Oh my goodness, look at that, that's amazing."

"He got right in there," said Mrs Gorringe. "He basically wanted to know how the heck it worked in terms of Bokashi [a Japanese method of composting].

"He had not heard of that, but in terms of worms he seemed really interested that it was functioning in such a small scale.

"He wanted to know if we could replicate that on a larger scale - for farm composting."

Mrs Gorringe added that the royal visit went some way to validating the work being done on the farm.

"It's tough farming, it's tough moving to a regenerative process, it really is," she said.

"So it gives everyone a boost."

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