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The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit the Eden Project

12th July 2011

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, who began their visit to the South West in Devon and Somerset yesterday, started today with a visit to the Eden Project near St. Austell, where they marked the ecological tourist attraction's tenth birthday by driving a bamboo stake into the ground to symbolise the start of its Rainforest Walkway.

Eden's chief executive Tim Smit said: "We have always been shoulder to shoulder with The Duke and his Rainforest Trust and the initiatives to save the world's rainforests.

The Prince, who is also known as The Duke of Cornwall, then moved on to Davidstow while The Duchess went to Passmore Edwards Court, Liskeard, which provides affordable accommodation to people over 50 allowing them to remain independent.

Her Royal Highness was then the guest of honour at a tea party celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Cornwall Rural Community Council, which helps disadvantaged people in rural parts of the county.

The Prince visited the Dairy Crest creamery today, as part of a number of engagements in Cornwall, where he spoke about support for the industry.

Speaking to staff at the creamery in Davidstow, where he started production of a charity-fundraising Diamond Jubilee cheddar, he praised it for paying its farmers higher prices for milk than others, adding: "It seems like madness that it costs more to buy a litre of water in a supermarket than a litre of milk.

"There is much more that needs to be done to put the dairy sector, especially small and medium-sized firms, on a firm footing."

Many dairy farmers are going out of business across the country because it costs more to rear and maintain cattle than they receive for their milk from supermarkets.

While at Davidstow, The Prince poured the first live culture into a vat of milk which will become a limited edition Diamond Jubilee cheddar.

Just 15 tonnes of the cheese will go on sale in Waitrose and Marks and Spencer stores in just over a year's time, with all profits going to The Prince’s Countryside Fund.

The Prince, who is passionate about the environment and sustainable living, also unveiled the dairy's £4.2 million biomass boilers, which will be used to dry the whey by-product of cheese making.

The largest of its type outside a power station in the UK, it will also produce the water used to clean all areas of the site and lower its carbon footprint by 22,000 tonnes per year.

While doing so he called on British industrial businesses to use more green technology in their processes to lower their carbon footprint.

"I hope that we might see more industrial-scale devices of this sort - and there are other technologies you can put together - happen in other parts of the United Kingdom, he said.

The couple came together again to finish their visit at a venue with a personal link to The Prince.

They visited the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery near Lostwithiel, where they officially opened its new visitor centre and shop. The building has been designed using traditional materials and craftspeople to match The Prince's own "vision" of architecture and sustainability. And he took a close interest in how it progressed.

The building's interior was designed by Annabel Elliot - who is The Prince’s sister-in-law.