PRINCE WILLIAM MAKES A SURPRISE MOVE — SPECIAL MEETING BACKS NEW INITIATIVE AFTER PRINCESS KATE’S “TRIUMPH”
The Prince of Wales made a new appearance on Thursday.
Prince William was in Devon (Image: Getty)
Prince William had a very special meeting as he made a new appearance in Devon on Thursday, hours after his wife, Princess Catherine’s, triumphant return to Royal Ascot. The Prince of Wales visited the Apricot Centre, a regenerative farm near Totnes.
He met a rather large pig called Ginger Spice and taste-tested a strawberry while learning about the farm and how it combines food growing with education and wellbeing programmes grounded in nature. The heir to the throne was taken round the 120-acre farm, starting with the food packaging section of the site, where lettuce was being added to bundles of fresh produce destined for direct customers, market sales and local food banks. The prince also headed to the strawberry patch, where he sampled one of the fruit, after admitting he had already been “eyeing up” the strawberries and raspberries in the packaging area.
Prince William meets Ginger Spice (Image: Getty)
The Prince of Wales listens during his visit to the Apricot Centre (Image: Getty)
He came across one of the resident farm animals, surveying a large ginger pig with black spots, named Ginger Spice, who lives with fellow pigs named after the other Spice Girls.
Farmer Marina O’Connell and her psychotherapist husband, Mark O’Connell, set up the centre in 2015 by transforming a disused dairy farm using an organic and regenerative approach, while also offering wellbeing therapies.
The centre’s food production combines farming methods such as agroforestry, permaculture, rotational grazing and crop rotation.
It is now carbon neutral and has increased biodiversity by 400% while achieving an annual turnover of £1.3 million.
The centre also focuses on nature-based therapies, supporting the mental, emotional and social wellbeing of children, young people, their families, and farming communities, as well as providing training courses, which extend to educational visits for primary and secondary school pupils.
William’s visit highlighted his interest and objectives in the transition to net zero, in line with his Duchy of Cornwall’s target of becoming net zero across the estate by 2032.
Prince William meets local school pupils (Image: Getty)
Prince William was all smiles as he arrived at the farm (Image: Getty)
The Prince and Princess of Wales at Royal Ascot (Image: Getty)
Throughout the tour, he asked the team questions about the impact of climate change and extreme weather events on crop growth.
With its own on-site curricula, the centre’s adult courses, partly government-funded and partly philanthropically funded, and free to students, offer a natural approach to farming free of chemicals or fertilisers.
William was also shown the wellbeing garden, the tour’s final stop.
From thriving flower plants to a gazebo and waterfall, the garden, which featured in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 as an award-winning garden for Bowel Research UK, offers a haven for younger children to connect with nature and biodiversity.
It comes as the Princess of Wales returned to Royal Ascot on Wednesday for the first time in two years.
Catherine had last attended the annual racing event in 2023.
SOURCE: https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2219277/prince-william-apricot-centre-visit-pictures
