Prince William visited a farm in the Chew Valley to host an event for young farmers after he was named patron for a mental health charity.

The Prince of Wales attended Folly Farm, near Bishop Sutton, where he gave a talk to young farmers about the issues they face in the industry.

The event was organised by the Duchy of Cornwall Estate, with it being hosted for 60 of the estate’s next generation of farmers.

This comes after Prince William was announced as the new patron of We Are Farming Minds, a duchy supported Herefordshire-based charity, established to break the stigma surrounding mental health in the farming community.

The day included workshops on business resilience, talks on the importance of mental health, and attendees were joined by farmer Kaleb Cooper and farming consultant Charlie Ireland, both of whom appear on Clarkson’s Farm, alongside BBC Countryfile’s Vick Hope.

The event highlighted Prince William’s commitment to supporting young farmers and his passion for promoting good mental health across their community – acknowledging that farming can be a lonely profession in which individuals have to contend with multiple external pressures and uncertainty.

Filming of the event was done by the Duchy of Cornwall, BBC Countryfile and by Amazon Prime.

Clare Withyman, centre manager at Folly Farm, said: “It was an absolute privilege to be able to host the event for the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate and their farmers.

“It was also a really exciting event to be a part of because it was really inspiring in terms of the content they were dealing with, particularly around mental health issues.

“It also interconnects with what we do here at Folly Farm, because we are an events venue in a nature reserve owned by the Wildlife Trust, with that link being of nature and wellbeing.”