Education trust hosts special Royal visit from Princess Anne at farming event

The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) was delighted to host a visit from its Royal Patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, at a food and farming event, held at Solsgirth Home Farm, Dollar recently.

The event brought together over 350 local school pupils and their accompanying adults for an educational and inspiring hands on farm experience.

During the visit, HRH The Princess Royal met with several RHET volunteers and observed the impactful work carried out by the rural education charity. The visit offered a unique opportunity for Her Royal Highness to engage with pupils, volunteers, and organisers, while gaining first-hand insight into RHET’s mission of educating young people about food, farming, and the natural environment.

At one of the stations, pupils helped press apples from the farm orchard, adding the juice to a smoothie bike to then pedal their own ‘Zero Miles Smoothie’. All waste produced in the process was fed to the pigs, just one of the other stations where there was the opportunity to reiterate the journey of food to plate.

HRH last visited a RHET volunteer farm in 2019, reflecting her continued support and deep interest in the impactful work RHET does across Scotland.

The event provided “an enriching experience” for the 8-11 year old pupils from Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Perth & Kinross areas.

These type of food and farming events are organised by RHET across the breadth and length of Scotland. The charity receives essential financial support from the Scottish Government, enabling RHET to offer the on-farm experience free of charge which it says is essential to early years development and understanding of where our food comes from.

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“Having our Royal Patron join us on such a busy day, with the sights and sounds of children learning in the outdoors has been an honour,” said Hugh McClymont, RHET chairman.

“I am very proud of the work and effort put into this and similar events held by the local project coordinators and the fantastic support gifted by the volunteers who share their passion for farming and for running the sessions.”

RHET aims to provide learning experiences for Scotland’s young people and their teachers through in-person and online opportunities.

A Solsgirth Home Farm spokesperson said: “Solsgirth Home Farm (near Dollar) is a farm and an ethos, where everything works full circle and in harmony with nature and the environment.

“Our bees pollinate the apple trees, and give us honey, the apples give us our juice. The pomace that remains after the crushing of apples helps to feed the animals on the farm. The farm is in a beautiful location, overlooked by the Ochils. It is around 360 acres. We have around 260 acres of grass and 100 acres of woodland, 35 acres of which is recently planted.

“Our animals at the farm are all home-grown. We produce honey, pork, beef and lamb and press our own apples for delicious juice in the autumn Solsgirth Home Farm also offers accommodation and community spaces, as well as education.

“Solsgirth Home Farm dates back over 100 years. Until 2019, it was a dairy farm. Before that the farm was mixed with arable and livestock, owned by the family who ran Alexanders buses. They used the large grain shed as a bus garage. The woodland on the farm was largely managed as cover for pheasants and was under planted with rhododendron for cover and colourful flowers. Popular market days take place over the second weekend of each month.”

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