At Mallon Farm, the Princess of Wales flexes her flax-braking skills

On the second stop of their one-day visit to Northern Ireland, the Prince and Princess of Wales paid a visit to Mallon Farm in County Tyrone.

Mallon Farm is a flax farm that has been using the fiber for linen production in a bid to be more sustainable. According to Kensington Palace, the farm is aiming to “rebuild a short flax to linen supply chain in Northern Ireland—growing flax on local farms, restoring heritage machinery and producing traceable natural fibre products that work for people, place and planet.”

William and Catherine met with the owners of the farm, Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon, and Mallon’s mother, Helen, before receiving a tour of the facilities. The couple are working to be totally sustainable with their ‘from field to fibre to fabric’ processing, which includes the use of heritage machinery that they’ve restored in order to break and scutch the flax seeds.

Catherine was keen to use the flax brake, and Mallon later told reporters that she did an excellent job and that “It is quite physical work. Your arm would definitely get sore after an hour or so—you would definitely know about it.”

William was keen to learn more about the sustainability aspect of flax farming and how it has been revived, while Catherine, who has shown an interest in textiles, also came armed with questions.

During their visit, they also met with Northern Irish linen designers to learn about how Mallon Farms is helping the industry.

Keys told reporters after the royal couple left that “They were really interested in the farming side of things. They were also interested in the practical aspects of how to scale the process up and what that would look like and the current gaps in the process.”

Over on their official Instagram account, Mallon Farm shared a photo of their meeting with William and Catherine and wrote, “It means a lot when people take an interest in our work. Hosting a visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales really gives us confidence that this emerging community of flax growers and processors are starting to make an impact.”

The Farm added that they chatted with the royals about “the importance of nature friendly farming, of putting sustainability right at the heart of our processes and of the need for collaboration to build a better and fairer textile system.”

William and Catherine paid a visit to Northern Ireland in a bid to see “innovative organisations that showcase growth and investment in rural areas” which create “entrepreneurial and creative opportunities for young people” according to Kensington Palace.

Earlier, they visited the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service’s new college in Cookstown.