A DEVON children's author who set up a charity which has helped more than 50,000 children is to be honoured by West Devon Borough Council.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the council agreed to admit Michael Morpurgo to the Honorary Freedom of the Borough, in recognition of the honour and distinction he has brought to the value of rural life and West Devon in particular.

In 1976, Michael and his wife Clare started the charity Farms for City Children, which aims to relieve the poverty of experience of younger children from inner city and urban areas by providing them with a week in which they work actively and purposefully on farms in the heart of the countryside.

Michael said: 'As a teacher I realised many children had little real contact with the world around them — to them the television was real. I wanted them to experience life at first hand.'

The charity's first farm was set up at Nethercott, a huge Victorian manor house near Iddesleigh, in 1976. The farm is home to a herd of organic milking Fresians, as well as sheep, a beef herd, donkeys and a wide range of poultry. There is also a large walled garden, where the children help grow the vegetables they eat with their home cooked meals. Two other farms were subsequently set up in Wales and Gloucestershire.

Children visiting the farm are involved in every aspect of its running, and learn hands-on where their food comes from, the importance of caring for animals and the land, and the value of working as a team. The rewards are, unusually, non-material and self-generated, with the children discovering a sense of achievement which stays with them long after they leave the farm.

The charity itself was recently recognised by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for its contribution to rural communities at a ceremony at Windsor Castle. The Princess Royal is patron of the charity.

Michael's life on the farm inspires his other great love and talent: writing children's books. As the third Children's Laureate and author of more than 100 books, his work, largely based around local rural themes, histories and events, has raised the profile of rural areas around the country.

The tradition of Freedom of the Borough goes back to ancient times and originally allowed special privileges such as property and taxation benefits.

Today's Freemen have no special rights, but the title of Freeman of the Borough is conferred as a means of demonstrating public recognition and an expression of the high esteem in which they are held by the council and people of the borough.

The borough council has only conferred two other Freedoms: to Pen Hadow in 2003 for his achievement of walking solo to the North Pole, and John Darch in 2007, for 60 years' service as a district and parish councillor for South Tawton.

Michael said: 'It really is a wonderful honour, a very touching honour; there's no greater name than a Freeman.

'It's wonderful to receive this honour in your local area as well. I go out around the world a lot and pick up prizes here and there, but something connected with the place I've lived for 25 years means more than any prize. 

'Clare and I started Farms for City Children a number of years ago. Nelson Mandela once said we only become who we are through the support of a huge number of people. In my case, the majority of those people live around Iddesleigh, and the project — and many of my books for that matter — only came about because of the support and hard work of a great many people.'

The ceremony conferring the Freedom of the Borough will take place in the New Year.