Prince of Wales visits farmers across Swaledale, North Yorkshire

On his first visit of the day in the national park, the prince chatted with farmers from across Swaledale at Adam and Leanne Hunter’s family farm, near Muker, to learn about their experiences on multi-generational farms, opportunities and challenges shaping modern farming and how they had diversified, transforming their roadside stone barn into a bunkhouse.

Offering the farmers first choice of some cakes he had bought at a cafe en route to the engagement, the prince said he would avoid what he described as the “Twix mountain of calorie grenade” as it would result in him having to do a lot of exercise to work it off.

The Prince of Wales passes round a selection of cake during a visit to Crow Tree Farm, a family farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to hear about multi-generational farms and the opportunities and challenges shaping modern farming today (Image: owen humphreys)

He said: “I’ve been to Yorkshire quite a few times and this dale I know reasonably well, but it’s always nice to come up at different times of the year. You see the country changing so much.”

The prince then asked whether the Tour de France Grand Depart he attended in 2014, that passed by the farm, had left a legacy.

He was told while thousands of people visited nearby Muker to see the meadows, Muker farmer Philip Metcalfe said he had invested money raised from 18 fields of campers into a new shower block.

Mr Metcalfe said: “Since then it’s snowballed. We get a lot of people on return visits saying they saw it on the telly.”

Mr Hunter told the prince: “And now with social media that’s keeping the area on the map. It was James Herriot originally.”

It was not long before the prince steered the conversation towards farming and mental health.

He said: “People forget how much time you have to spend on the farm. If you’re not careful you could spend weeks, months without even going off the farm at all.

“Sometimes the remoteness of the job gets forgotten about. Once you get into that rut, that isolated cycle, it’s very hard to come out of it.

“Internally you are a bit like I’ve lost touch, I don’t want to do that, I want to do more work and before you know it you are completely cut off.”

The Prince of Wales speaks to Adam Hunter (right), owner of Crow Tree Farm, during a visit to the family farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to hear about multi-generational farms and the opportunities and challenges shaping modern farming today (Image: owen humphreys)

The farmers told the prince how the Upper Swaledale community was “close-knit”, spending time on each other’s farms to complete labour-intensive jobs such as drystone walling and that they would regularly meet in the pub for a chat and game of darts.

“We’ve got a pretty good close-knit community in our dale,” Mr Hunter said.

“The fact that you are all helping each other out makes such a difference,” William said. “I worry about the farmers who don’t have support around them. You just get very much in the moment of your problems and can’t see your way out of it.”

The farmers added they had launched a social media group chat which regularly featured a competition over who is having the worst day.

The Prince of Wales talks with Adam Hunter (second right), owner of Crow Tree Farm, and farmers from across Swaledale during a visit to the family farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to hear about multi-generational farms and the opportunities and challenges shaping modern farming today (Image: owen humphreys)

Mr Hunter said: “In farming you sometimes think it’s just you having a problem, but there’s always somebody else who’s having the same problem or worse.”

Asked whether they felt positive about farming, the group told the prince they were optimistic, but facing uncertainty on a number of fronts, particularly following the loss of the Basic Payment Scheme, which is being phased out.

Mr Hunter said: “Unfortunately most farms up here now need some sort of other income to support the farm.”

The prince responded: “The hard thing is you’ve got to be farmers, accountants, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, you’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment. Do you feel that pressure?”

Mr Hunter said: “We’re farmers at heart, that’s what we really want to be doing. It’s all the other stuff that you have to you have to learn to do.”

James Metcalfe, 23, told the prince he was more hopeful for a bright future for farming than his father, Philip.

The Prince of Wales during a visit to Crow Tree Farm, a family farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to hear about multi-generational farms and the opportunities and challenges shaping modern farming today (Image: owen humphreys)

Philip Metcalfe said: “The reason I am sceptical is because I think we have just come out of the golden age of agriculture.”

The farmers told the prince they were feeling the loss of the Single Farm Payment and the abrupt closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applicants had hit them hard as they needed to plan years ahead.

The group told the prince they feared they could be the last generation to farm the dale, but “at the moment that could be a possibility”. 

Mr Hunter said: “On our hill farm our accountant said the BPS is your profit figure and it isn’t there now. It’s a subsidy to keep us here. We want to look after this landscape. We’re proud of where we live.”