A plan to boost farmers' fortunes with a new meat cutting plant in Eden was given a Royal seal of approval this week by Prince Charles as he swept through Cumbria on a mission to highlight rural regeneration.

HRH gave his "very strong support" to the ambitious scheme from a local farming co-operative as he met farmers privately at the end of his cross-county official visit on Wednesday.

Following his royal encounter, Tebay farmer Steve Dunning explained that the idea was to support small producers by building a plant for cutting, packing and hanging red meat at his Raisgill Hall Farm, just off junction 38 of the M6. At the moment those who want to sell meat direct to shops or farmers' markets are struggling because of a shortage of processing capacity.

The £600,000 plan has been in the pipeline since 1999 but the intervention of Rural Regeneration Cumbria, with the preliminary offer of a £250,000 grant, has brought it off the shelf and back to the attention of the Prince who originally lent his backing to the idea when he visited local food producers at Kendal last year.

The co-operative of 51 farmers and some hoteliers from Eden, South Lakeland, north Cumbria and North Yorkshire, which is chaired by Mr Dunning, has already secured planning permission for the plant. Now, as long as RRC secures final funding approval, it could be up and running by the end of the year, employing 12 staff and processing 1,000 to 1,500 lambs a week for local farmers on a contract basis.

"This plant is vitally important to Cumbria," said RRC's agricultural programme manager Richard Lancaster. "Prince Charles is a strong supporter of it. He was very keen to see this happen because he supports local and traditional products."

The Prince was certainly doing his bit for Cumbrian food this week as he chose to add the award-winning Westmorland Services, near Tebay, to his itinerary because of its focus on stocking mainly locally-produced fayre in its Farm Shop as well as serving local food in its cafe.

HRH spent an hour leisurely chatting to food suppliers at its Farm Shop - which was named the Best Local Food Retailer 2003' in the Radio Four Food and Farming Awards and by venturing into the kitchen to meet staff and stir a pot of stew.

Mark Whitehead, of the Hawkshead Relish Company, got a private tete-a-tete and was hopeful the Prince would try his famous pickled damsons, presented to him in a hamper of the shop's goodies. "He is obviously a man who does have food and farming matters at heart," he said.

The Prince rounded off the tour by cutting a ribbon to officially open the shop when he received a surprise from Kendal royalist Wyn Newman, 77, who presented him with her lovingly-stitched tapestry of Crathie Church, near Balmoral.

Earlier in the day HRH officially opened a new £450,000 village hall at Melmerby, near Penrith, and popped down for a pint at community-run pub The Old Crown, at Heston Newmarket, to launch a How To Save Your Local Pub' guide.