Farmer 'over the moon' with Prince William donation

A sheep farmer walking 142 miles (229km) to raise awareness of rural mental health has said he is "over the moon" after a £5,000 donation from the Prince of Wales.

Sam Stables, from Herefordshire, is a Duchy tenant and founder of We Are Farming Minds, of which the prince is a patron.

He left Ross-on-Wye on Monday and is aiming to walk about 30 miles (48km) a day to get to The Farmers Club in London on Friday.

In a message posted on the campaigner's Instagram account, the prince said: "Keep going, Sam! You're doing an amazing job! Thinking of you, W."

The farmer said he was "absolutely over the moon" about the "kind gesture".

In a social media post on Wednesday, he said: "I've just had some incredible news.

"I'm just walking out of Brill, and everything in Brill seems to be brill, because I've just heard the news that Prince William's kindly donated £5000 to the walk, which is absolutely incredible."

The prince met Stables in January on a visit to Herefordshire to highlight the importance of mental health support across the farming community.

He has partnered with the Farm Safety Foundation and their Mind Your Head campaign on his charity walk, to raise funds for the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs.

Prince William became patron of We Are Farming Minds in March last year, which provides fully funded counselling, a support line, social events and advice to farmers.

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