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.
[From The Daily Mail]
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?
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