THE Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall met residents in Aberdaron and Criccieth as part of their tour of north Wales.

They visited St Hywyn’s Church, which has been a place of Christian worship at the edge of the sea in Aberdaron since the fifth century. The oldest portion of the present St Hywyn’s Church dates from 1137. Over the centuries, the building has been enlarged and restored, most recently in December 2012.

The famous Welsh poet R S Thomas was the vicar of St Hywyn’s from 1967-78.

The royal couple also visited Becws Islyn in Aberdaron and Sblash Caban Pysgod, where they enjoyed some Welsh cake and fried lobster.

There other engagement that day to celebrate Wales’ culture and heritage included a visit to Criccieth where The Prince of Wales met with clog-maker Trefor Owens at his workshop.

Mr Owens hand makes clogs for dance, leisure and work wear, using traditional methods.

The Prince was keen to see the craft of the Welsh clog making continued, and has previously supported Mr Owen by contributing to help ensure that he could recruit an apprentice.

Meanwhile The Duchess of Cornwall visited Cadwaladers ice cream parlour and then met with the Criccieth RNLI lifeboat crew at the town’s lifeboat station.

Peter Williams, Lifeboat operations manager said: “It was a pleasure to welcome TRH The Duchess of Cornwall and The Prince of Wales to Criccieth lifeboat station.

“The RNLI depends on the dedication and commitment of its volunteers to provide the lifesaving service.

“The royal visit is a special day for many of the station’s volunteers as the Duchess recognised the work of the charity here in Criccieth.”

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