THE Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have officially opened a new cheese production unit in Chwilog.

On Tuesday, during their 12th annual summer visit to Wales, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall opened the Hufenfa De Arfon South Caernarfon Creameries’ new unit.

Their Royal Highnesses took a tour of the creameries’ site, met with staff and members of the dairy co-operative which is owned by 127 farmers who farm in north Wales and mid Wales.

His Royal Highness said he was delighted to be invited to open the new cheese production unit.

He said: “Both my wife and I are so pleased we have this opportunity to be here at the opening of the new production unit.

“Having eaten our way around this part of Wales during the morning, starting with deep fried lobster and delicious Welsh cakes a nice pot of cheddar was just what was needed!

“So if I may say how thrilled I am to see how this cooperative has lasted since 1938 which shows how far sighted they were at that time and how that cooperative of dairy farmers have held together over all these years.

“I have a particular interest in ensuring that the family farm structure continues in this country; apart from everything else I believe it is absolutely crucial for food security.

“So many of you here today come from families that have been involved in farming, particularly dairy farming for generations.

"I know too how many difficult other challenges you face on a daily basis, price of milk and all the other complications, but I do hope this particular venture will add value to a primary product, in this case cheese and butter, and can make just that bit of difference to your continuing operations.

“Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to open this new creamery which I have also had the chance to look at. I wish to congratulate all those that have put so much into building it and I hope they have many more years of successful operations, particular selling vast quantity of cheese for a very long time!”

See the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News