Mar.19, 2008 2:44 AM
Source: telegraph.co.uk

The Prince of Wales became a local shopkeeper yesterday as he opened his new organic produce store. He and the Duchess of Cornwall welcomed guests to the Highgrove shop in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, just two miles from their home.

More than 700 items either sourced from Home Farm on the Prince’s estate or selected by him personally, were unveiled to an audience of local dignitaries and those who helped make the shop a reality.

Rosie Craig, serving at the opening, said: “The champagne, Lebanese soaps, fudge and chocolates are selling well already. The champagne is the same used at all his own functions. It is very, very good.”

Local joiner Geoff Harris, 46, who helped fit out the building, was happy to pay £29.95 for a bottle of the Prince’s personal tipple.

He said: “The champagne is very reasonably priced. I’ve also gone for the fudge. As my firm did all the joinery here, he asked me if the wood came from a sustainable source – it does.”

Among the other goods on sale are vegetables grown on the estate, including Charlotte potatoes and Happil strawberries.

Highgrove honey, made by royal bees which forage on clover, wild berries and dandelions, is on sale for £5.95, while a mug, bearing the image of a Highgrove hen, costs £14.95.

Lebanese soaps, which the Prince discovered on a foreign tour and which come from the world’s oldest factory, cost £5.95.

The most expensive item on sale today was a limited edition print of a painting by the Prince himself.

One of just 100 lithographs, a picture of the Pepperpot Pavilion at Highgrove is on sale for £2,500.

As with all the products on sale, the proceeds will go to his Charities Foundation.

Josie Creed, part of the store’s buying team, said: “All the products can be traced back to Highgrove, and reflect his interests.

“The biscuits are a great example – they are grown on Home Farm, then milled at Shipton Mill, down the road, and baked at a bakery funded by profits from the Prince’s Trust.”

Defending the prices, which are markedly more expensive than those in the Somerfield store opposite, commercial director Christine Prescott said: “You cannot buy this elsewhere. Everything is unique and has a genuine provenance, the money is going to good causes. That will tempt people to buy.”

Ms Prescott said the shop cost £150,000 to fit out, but a “good return” was expected on that investment.

Other items on sale are tea-cosies, gardening gloves, nesting boxes, a pair of tractor bookends, crab-apple jelly and apple chutney.

The Duchess’s daughter, Laura, also appeared at the opening along with her three-month-old baby.