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TRH begin their annual tour of Wales in St Davids

22nd June 2008

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall started their annual tour of Wales today and this evening will stay at their Welsh Farmhouse, Llwynywermod, for the first time.

For their first engagement of the week, Their Royal Highnesses visited the small cathedral city of St Davids in West Wales, which has a population of less than 1,800 and attracts thousands of visitors annually.

The Prince and The Duchess were greeted by hundreds of children and adults waving flags under a sunny sky and enjoyed a performance by the cathedral's resident choir.

The Prince is Patron of St Davids Cathedral Cloisters Project and together Their Royal Highnesses toured the cathedral's restored cloisters and visited the new refectory.

The combined project, which has taken two years to complete, cost a total of £4.5million and has transformed the cathedral's former tea-room into an attraction in its own right.

Sited in a spacious medieval hall a mezzanine sitting space is perched inside allowing customers to see out through the giant arched windows across the bay as they eat.

After officially opening the restored cloisters and the new refectory, The Prince paid tribute to the tenacity which has seen the project completed after 80 years of planning.

"Can I first of all say what an enormous pleasure it is to be able to return to St Davids Cathedral and, with my wife, have a first view together of this unique place," he said.

"It has really been dreamed of for the last 80 years but it is only in the last 10 that it has been possible to bring the project to fruition.

"It is great to be able to celebrate what is really an excellent project."

Later in the day, The Prince and The Duchess visited a Century old woollen mill in the village of Solva which has provided a series of traditional flat weave rugs for The Prince’s new Welsh farmhouse, Llwynywermod, near the village of Myddfai, in Carmarthenshire.

As the oldest working woollen mill in Pembrokeshire, The Prince had commissioned a series of traditional flat weave rugs for his new home in Wales.

Mill owner Tom Grime said: "It has only been known for a short while that The Prince placed a commission with us but we have already had some interest as a result."

Following the visit The Prince and The Duchess of Cornwall travelled to Aberglasney Gardens, in Llangathen, to officially open its new Historic Gardens Trust office.

The Prince has been Patron of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust since 1991, and Their Royal Highnesses visited the gardens where they saw floral displays and met staff.

Their Royal Highnesses then travelled on to Llwynywermod, their new farmhouse estate in Myddfai, West Wales, where they were planning to stay the night for the first time.

The former 18th Century coach house and farm buildings are at the centre of 192 acres of idyllic rolling Welsh countryside.

The farmhouse was bought by the Duchy of Cornwall in November 2006, with completion in April 2007.

His Royal Highness, as both Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales, was for some time keen for The Duchy to purchase a property in Wales.

Llwynywermod will be used by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall when they are in Wales on their regular visits and annual summer tour.

The property will be used as occasional holiday lets when The Prince and The Duchess are not there and it will also be used by some of The Prince’s Charities, many of which are very active in Wales.

Llwynywermod has been renovated using the expertise of skilled Welsh craftsmen and women.

Craig Hamilton, the architect brought in by The Prince to make his vision a reality, said: "The project was intended as a celebration of Welsh vernacular architecture," he said.

"I think it has been very successfully accomplished. The whole makes for a very, very peaceful location."

The ITV Wales website has some archive footage of The Prince’s previous visits to Wales and will show video from Their Royal Highnesses' annual tour of Wales. Click here to visit the ITV Wales website.