Prince Charles is the guardian of thousands of acres of farm land across the UK. Basically, he’s the landlord for individual farms through the Duchy of Cornwall, a wealthy duchy which Charles has transformed into an organic farming conglomerate. When Charles becomes king, William will be the Duke of Cornwall and he’ll be the guardian/landlord of all the duchy estates and farms. Beyond the duchy properties, Charles has also done work on various privately owned royal properties and crown-owned properties, turning them organic as well and ensuring that they’re updated with all of the latest farm stuff (I don’t know, I’m not a farm expert). All of this to say, Sandringham is a privately-owned royal property which Charles will inherit from the Queen at some point. And he has a new scheme to bring a “huge organic cattle herd” to the Sandringham property. What’s funny/interesting about this is that if he puts the cattle sheds and grazing fields where he wants, that means that William & Kate’s Anmer Hall will be “downwind” of a very close manure field.
Prince Charles is planning to have a huge organic cattle herd at Sandringham which could send farmyard smells wafting over the country home of Prince William. The Prince of Wales wants to introduce 500 beef cattle so their manure can be spread over fields where crops are grown on the Royal estate in Norfolk. It is understood the move is part of his plan to make the estate fully organic by July. However, some local residents fear it will lead to an increase in unpleasant odours. One of the proposed sites for a manure heap, though, is less than half a mile from Anmer Hall – the country estate of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
A villager said organic farming ‘comes at a price for people who live downwind of a dung heap or next door to the fields where slurry is being sprayed around. William and Kate are going to have to put up with the smell like everyone else.’
The estate has applied for planning consent to build a pair of giant cattle sheds for the herd, each measuring 315ft by 98ft with solar panels on the roof. Five hundred cattle will live in the sheds between October and March, but will be grass-fed on pastures during the spring and summer. Planning documents show that manure from the herd mixed with straw bedding will be stored in six heaps on surrounding land, each containing up to 400 tonnes.
The Cambridge family’s Georgian mansion overlooks fields where muck will be spread in the spring and ploughed into the soil after crops are harvested in August.
Is this a passive-aggressive manure-move by Charles? Or is it just Charles doing his organic thing and not worrying about anyone else? I live a few miles away from a cattle farm and there are certain times of the year where it is NO JOKE! I’m lucky that I’m not permanently “downwind” of it, but I drive past it regularly and even with the car windows closed, the manure smell still comes in. It’s really horrid, and while I think this story is funny, I also feel bad for all of the Sandringham renters who are going to be stuck in their manure-smelling homes forever. Oh well, maybe it will get William and Kate to spend more time in London?? Is that Charles’ goal?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I only recently learned that Charles has entire freaking line of products called Duchy Originals???? I’m really not understanding how people are ok with that while simultaneously screaming about Harry and Meghan when they haven’t even done that!
I think he reinvests the profits back into the duchy, but I could be wrong? And I have to admit, the products I’ve tried from Duchy Originals are really quite delicious.
People are going to scream about Harry and Meghan no matter what. I read US (yes, I know, it’s kind of the worst) and can’t bring myself to open the comments on any article related to the royals because vitriol aimed at Harry and Megan is astounding. People are incredibly vicious, racist, uninformed, and uncritical.
People don’t care. People don’t read.
It’s why there is still a royal family.
People don’t think. They use their asses instead od their heads.
Lol, it’s not a “line of products” like he’s started his own line of perfume like JLo or something.
It’s a brand of organic food products, in order to market organic products grown on some of the Duchy’s land, with all proceeds going to a charitable foundation.
Duchy originals was a charity aimed at helping small farmers in the UK- it was launched by Prince Charles but not related to the Duchy of Cornwall.
All profits are re-invested back into small food productions. Quite a pioneering idea as it was launched in 1990, before organic food was ‘in’.
It’s since been bought by Waitrose, an upmarket UK supermarket.
DO IT!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
After reading just the headline…I have to add: hahahahahahahahahahahahha!
Just make sure Amner Hall is DOWNWIND of it! lol.
Is this Charles’ passive/VERY aggressive move to the FFK?? lol
They won’t even notice the smell because they are so full of sh*t already. Maybe they can heap some of theirs on the pile?
Thanks for my first laugh of the day!
I mean, cows are awesome. I help take care of a small herd of rescued former dairy cows/steers and they are amazing – seriously! Scooping their poop is not my favorite part but they like to give kisses and get belly rubs.
All this to say, the cows are too good for Cain and Unable lol
They really are, aren’t they?
🐮
I love cows. I always get b!tched out here when I mention that I grew up on a farm but I loved it. I miss cuddling calves! They’re so sweet.
It’s extremely unlikely that it will happen, but if I get furloughed from the hospital I would whisk my kids away to my parent’s farm in a heartbeat. I miss it & my parents.
We could ride horses at sunrise by the creek. We could help with fix fencing & look after the lambs. 🐑🐎
Dang I better stop, I am getting so homesick right now.
Thanks for the coffee break, ladies! ☕
Stay safe & healthy everyone.
What a lovely post, Annika.
I am with you on this. My family at home in Kansas has a teeny herd of heritage breed cattle who augment pastures with manure and eat down superweeds. The problem of our time is Confined Animal Feed Operations (CAFO), which are the antithesis of proper farming.
If this isn’t a plot point in the Windsors, it should be!
But aren’t cow farts huge contributors to global warming?
Huge is right. Unbelievable amounts methane are released daily. I read an article once that stated we could end global hunger in a day if we quit eating meat. The grain that goes to feed cattle could literally save the world.
Hahah, the smell of manure signals spring for me. Growing up there were a lot of dairy farms and a couple beef ones in the area. There’s still a few operating, but definitely fewer. Small, family run farms too, not big factory ones.
But to me, it will always mean it’s spring. Which is nice considering it’s snowing currently -_-;
Pig farms smell worse than cattle imho. Honestly the smell of manure is the price you pay for living near farmland. Land should be used properly and in an environmentally friendly way and not for the pleasure of rich aristos.
This story has made my day. Funniest thing I’ve read for a while.
Same here!! The Cambridges deserve it!
I have to say this seems environmentally short sided. One of the largest producers of harmful CO2 gasses are cows it can cause serious air quality problems even in areas where had there not been cows it would not be an issue.
I also don’t’ think Charles is doing this as any slight to his son or daughter in law I think he just wants organic property but I would look at other options then cows as they are quite dangerous for the environment.
I was going to post something similar. Cattle are NOT environmentally-friendly. Literally, any other livestock would be a better choice.
This is cracking me up.
I wonder if they will still live at Anmer when he’s Duke of Cornwall though.
This isn’t even close to being environmentally correct. The world is already overburdened by it’s bovine populations. How about small herds of goats and and chickens that are on grazing rotation and not used for meat? That said, this is totally shady and I’m here for it.
Thank you!! I hate the idea that he is going to hurt the environment in such a significant way and while people here may enjoy the announce to the Cambridge, this isn’t going to hurt them they can move. It is going to hurt the town (air quality will be destroyed) and as the environment gets worse it is going to hit low pollution producing places disproportionately like Africa.
This is terrible and should not be applauded in any way if you care about the environment.
My country house (not an estate by any stretch) boarders a field used by an organic farmer. He drives a truck over and sprays manure on it in the spring. It stinks but you do get used to it and I’d rather smell that than chemical fertilizer.
I’m sorry, this is really tickling my funny bone. Karma arrives in piles of 💩
My only question is: Is this the field that Wills has to cut through in order to tend to his roses, and will the cow poo now require him to access his rose bush through the main roads?
You may be on to something. 😀
Please make this happen.
When Prince William becomes Prince of Wales he will be upgraded into much grander estates. Anmer Hall will be in the rearview mirror
Next level passive aggressive trolling 😆
I live near a dairy farm and somedays the fertilizing stench permeates your clothing. Ha ha!
Cows cant live in sheds for months. We have a small herd of cows and if managed properly doesnt have to stink.
I….can’t…stop…laughing!!!
This may be an unpopular opinion but in the great scheme of things dung smell is really not that big of a deal. I live in a rural area, in an old farmhouse nonetheless. I buy organic. I want farm animals to live with a modicum of freedom while we exploit them. If I want these things I also have to take the dung. (By the way, I do take the dung. My next door neighbours are farmers and have some cattle as well as crop.)
Anyway, I applaud Charles for his relentless work for organic farming. This is the main reason I like him.
I agree.
I went to college in a farm town. A couple times a year the smell would overwhelm the town. It was not pleasant, but there are worse things. It was sort of charming in its own way.
@Spikey and @Annie K, ITA! This is quite true, as I commented below. It’s not an entirely horrible smell because cows and horses are not meat-eaters. The reason manure is used in organic gardening and in gardening in general is because of the superior attributes of manure, due to cows and horses being plant and grain eaters.
Kudos to Charles. I wish he’d step up more than just symbolically to put his older son, PWT, in his place for once and for all.
I’ve always sort of loathed Charles, but this story makes me kind of love him.
Has Andrew been arrested yet?
Wonder if Kate will be able to test the smell by smelling it?
Meh. Cain and Unable’s heads are already so far up their own arses, I doubt they’ll notice any difference in the, uh, local aromatics.
If you’re used to being around cows and horses, the manure smell eventually becomes tolerable. It can indeed be rather strong and a bit funky, but seriously it’s not that bad because cows and horses don’t eat meat. 😁
Of course I don’t know as much about cow dung, as I do about horse manure, having frequented horse stables in my youth as an equestrian.
It depends what the cows eat. If only grass it would be tolerable and manure especially organic sells well. Selling it is a good side business.
Go right ahead and put something useful on all the land the BRF owns.
Plow up and plant organic veg, raise cows, sheep, etc.
Then, donate all the goods to food banks.
I would be properly impressed. Beats their usual standing around looking stupid.