At the water facility, which creates rapids around the shell of a building, the couple watched staff recover a mock casualty, before having a go at throwing lines to volunteers who jumped into the fast-moving water.
The Prince went first but his line just missed, as did one thrown by his wife a few minutes later.
Instructor Pete Sloane was loath to criticise their efforts. “The water was moving at 24 knots, very fast,” he said. “It’s difficult to hit a moving target, but another go and they would have had it.”
The couple then visited family-run Mallon Farm in Co Tyrone, where the Princess tried her hand at an ancient technique used to break bunches of flax to soften it before being turned into fibres.
They donned sturdy boots to tour the muddy fields as owners Helen Kerr and Charlie Mallon, described how they had transformed their dairy farm into a flax farm which they hoped would spearhead the cultivation of the crop for linen.
The Princess spoke of her recent visits to textile manufacturers and said it was “fascinating” to see the “whole journey”.
She noted that consumers were increasingly interested in the provenance of their products. “They really do care about where things have come from – how a product is made,” she said. It was important, she added, that things were “made with love.”
Aides said the couple were keen to celebrate the British textile industry and the best of traditional heritage crafts.
“I’ve been amazed by it,” the Prince said. “I want to go away and find out more about flax.”
The final stop of the day was Long Meadow Cider, in Co Armagh, which has been owned by the McKeever family for three generations and has made cider, apple juice and apple cider vinegar since 1968.
Shown the farm’s apple pressing machine, the Princess said: “We tried this at home with a hand press. It was quite good fun with the children. It was very messy.”
Given a glass of apple cider vinegar to try, the Princess said: “I like that. I haven’t taken it as a shot like this before but I love to put it in salads and things like that.”
The couple also helped out with the apple harvest, picking Golden Delicious and Bramley apple varieties, before putting on aprons to make potato apple bread.
As they began peeling their baskets of apples William turned to his wife who appeared to be lagging behind and joked: “Do keep up.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
