Ovus Royale

The sheep shown below belong to Prince Charles and are raised on his 1,060 acre Duchy Home Farm near the monarch's private home, Highgrove estate in the Southwest region of England near the Welsh border. Who knew the prince raised sheep? Well, apparently he raises all kinds of things, all organic, and the livestock are shown at fairs winning awards of which he is understandably quite proud. In 1990 he established Duchy Originals, ranked among the top UK organic food brands. Profits from the sale of more than 200 Duchy Original products are funneled to the Prince of Wales' charitable foundation raising about 8 million dollars since inception. No small potatoes, organic or otherwise. These are a native Welsh breed of sheep called Lleyn. Oh how the Welsh love their consonants! Originating from the Lleyn Penninsula of Wales, they were relatively unknown until about 10 years ago. Lleyns have been found to do well in organic operations like this one.

Awards won for the eggs of the Prince's chickens are shown here on the hen house door. There is a poultry association of which Charles is a patron, and he reportedly often feeds the chickens himself in the morning in his dressing gown. I would like to be a fly on that wall...but only once and just for a minute.

This contraption is called a bedweeder, not to be confused with bed wetter. Since the farm is organic, no weed killers are used and the fields must be weeded by hand. Lay me on a bed of metal and drag me behind a tractor for hours. Oh baby! Where do I sign up???

These are Golden Yew hedges, which are clipped by the gardeners to the Prince's exact specifications. He must be reading Alice in Wonderland. These gardens at Highgrove are considered one of the greatest gardens in Jolly Ol' England.