Prince Charles’ Highgrove estate is set to host craft courses.
The Prince’s Foundation will welcome students to converted outbuildings near to the royal’s Gloucestershire home, where they will be able to learn the ins and outs of woodworking, textiles and more.
The Foundation will take charge of the grounds and gardens at Highgrove, where the first in line to the throne has been organic farming for many years.
The 72-year-old prince recently decided not to continue his lease of the 900-acre organic Home Farm on the estate, owing to the fact he won’t have time when he becomes King.
While Charles will still call Highgrove his home, the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk will be where he continues his farming efforts.
Constantine Innemée, Project Director at The Prince’s Foundation for more than a decade, said: “The aim of The Prince’s Foundation has always been to provide access to training and development in craft skills and other artisanal endeavours that are very often under threat due to lack of knowledge.
“By developing a new base in the south of England we will be able to offer new opportunities to keep these valuable skills thriving in a part of the country where there is a great deal of talent but where the opportunities to harness and develop them are not always readily available.
“Highgrove is synonymous with craftsmanship and aesthetic excellence. The hope is that this new base within the Estate will allow that influence to permeate every element of the programmes on offer.”
It’s expected that “hundreds” of students will sign up for the various courses each year, with the 2021 intake set to arrive at Highgrove “within months”, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The Prince’s cousin David Linley, the Earl of Snowdon, vice president of the Prince’s Foundation, will teach a course in fine woodworking.