HER Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited Nethercott House to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Farms for City Children today (January 17).

Having arrived by helicopter, Princess Anne was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant and founders of the charity, Michael and Clare Morpurgo. Princess Anne visited the piggery, the forest school and walled gardens where children from Lipson Vale Primary School in Plymouth were undertaking their farm work under supervision of the Nethercott staff.

Having seen the children working on the farm, Princess Anne was then introduced to CEO Dr Tessa Stone, who introduced her to the Mayor of Hatherleigh, the farming partners and alumni, teachers and children who had previously visited the farms. Finally, Princess Anne “opened” a bench to commemorate her visit and cut a cake which was enjoyed by the 80 or so attendees of the event.

Michael Morpurgo said: ’We were delighted to welcome Princess Anne back to Nethercott after her previous visit to Treginnis, our farm in Wales in 2010. It is fantastic to have her support and understanding and we look forward to working together with her for many years to come.’

Princess Anne has been the Royal Patron of Farms for City Children since 1991 and this will be her third visit to Nethercott House and fifth visit to Farms for City Children.

Farms for City Children was founded in 1976 by Michael and Clare Morpurgo in order to give urban children from all over the country, a unique opportunity to live and work together for a week at a time on a real farm, in the heart of the countryside.

Forty years on, Farms for City Children is still providing an intense ‘learning through doing’ experience of a different life for children who may not know where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to explore the outside world. 

Since 1976, over 100,000 children have spent a week at one of the three farms - one in Devon, one in Wales and one in Gloucestershire – and they continue to welcome nearly 3,250  8-11 year old, primary school children every year from towns and cities across the UK.Pictures by Jim Wileman