Prince of Wales greeted by well-wishers

"I told him we were flooded when the River Alyn burst its banks," said 68-year-old Mr Davies.

"Within a matter of minutes the house was flooded by four or five feet, my wife was in her bed at the time and was alone in the house, it was terrible."

Mr Davies's wife Gwen said the prince had shown concern at their plight.

"He asked why I was in a wheelchair and I said I had osteoporosis. He asked how I was coping and I said very good considering," she said.

The Prince of Wales had specifically asked to meet people affected by the flooding after the recent spate of bad weather.

Before that, this first engagement was in Bangor where he proved an impressive stonemasonry apprentice into during a visit to the Vaynol estate.

The prince tours the Vaynol estate in Bangor

"He is a definite eight out of 10," said 33-year-old student Richard Parry from Caernarfon, who was training for Cadw, the body responsible for upkeep of heritage buildings in Wales.

The prince was visiting the estate's conservation school which was set up by Sean Wood who received a Prince's Trust business grant in 1986 to pursue a career in building and woodwork.

The aim of the project is to pass on much-needed traditional restoration skills and techniques.

Following a tour, a windswept prince praised the work of the estate and referred to the crises currently facing rural communities.

Traditional skills

"What they are doing here shows how important it is to preserve traditional skills for which there is a market and a growing market ," he said.

"There is a real danger that people who have been born and bred here will be forced out because there will be no economic future."

The prince then moved onto formally open the North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, which opens to patients in the summer.

The next port of call was the new offices of the Liverpool Daily Post in Llandudno Junction, Clwyd, where he engaged in a conversation on one of his pet topics.

Feature writer Jill Tunstall, 38, said: "I asked him if he recycled and he said 'yes', he said he had a largely organic diet and I said it was thanks to people like him that there was such as wide range of organic food now available."