DURING their royal tour of the region, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall were warmly welcomed by members of the Lifton community, who described their visitors as ‘engaging’ and ‘humble’, writes Sally Shipton.

Their Royal Highnesses visited Lifton to celebrate the centenary of the Ambrosia Creamery at an open day held for staff, their families, local dairy farmers and Lifton residents.

Steve Pretty, Ambrosia’s factory manager, said: “We were honoured to welcome their royal highnesses to our factory. I was amazed at how many people they managed to speak to, they were incredibly humble and were genuinely interested in the stories of our employees.”

The Duke and Duchess met with employees and their families, were guided through displays of the factory’s history and even tasted some of the company’s latest products.

Food safety and technical manager, Tim Styles, said: “During the tasting, The Duchess joked that she doesn’t have fond memories of tapioca. The Duke, however, said he remembered semolina and jam at school.”

Mr Styles said that the royal visitors particularly enjoyed tasting a new custard with clotted cream product, which is not yet in the shops.

The Duke and Duchess were greeted by children from Lifton Community Primary School, who waved flags and handed the Duchess bouquets of flowers.

Year 5 pupil, Ella Hooper, said of the Duchess: “She said ‘thank you’ to me for the flowers, she was really nice and I was so excited to meet her.”

Devon Cresswell and Primrose Taylor, both from Year 5, said the Duchess asked them if they knew anyone who worked in the factory and added that they were excited to meet her as they had been learning about the royal family in school.

School teacher Stephanie Devoy said: “The Duke and Duchess were very engaging and asked the children lots of questions which they were more than willing to answer.”

The royal couple also unveiled a portrait of Ambrosia founder Alfred Morris, which was a piece made up of pictures of staff members’ faces.

Before their departure, The Duchess cut into a three-tiered cake, which was specially designed to celebrate 100 years of Ambrosia.