William and Kate take turns behind the wheel of hi-tech tractor during County Durham visit today
and live on Freeview channel 276
William and Kate had a tour of Manor Farm at Little Stainton, near Darlington, which has been run by the same family for 145 years, and which uses 21st-century technology to achieve sustainable farming.
William likened the GPS-controlled tractor to the helicopters he flew when he was an air ambulance and RAF search and rescue pilot.
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Hide AdFarmer Stewart Chapman, 51, who sat in the tractor on both journeys with the masked royals, said afterwards: “They both wanted a go and didn’t need any persuasion.
“Once they got used it, it was fine.”
The automated tractor had a route across the field pre-plotted using GPS and is designed to use less fuel by efficiently covering the ground, cutting emissions.
Two weeks of royal mourning for the Duke of Edinburgh ended on Friday for the Windsors, and William and Kate were out of their black mourning outfits and dressed casually for the countryside.
The Cambridges also joined the farmers’ daughters Clover, nine, Penelope, seven and Wren, four, and their lambs named Dumbledore and Heather.
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Hide AdClover said afterwards: “It was very exciting, but it was also quite nerve-wracking.
“She (Kate) asked me about when my friends came over were they surprised at how well I train the lambs.”
Mr Chapman and his wife Clare Wise also showed off their calving cameras, which send them a text message when one of their cows is about to give birth.
The Duke and Duchess then headed to Belmont Community Centre and William spoke of his late grandfather when he met young people who have finished their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
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Hide AdWhile visiting the Cheesy Waffles Project – a group for young people with learning difficulties in Durham – William heard how Evan Jones, 18, and Lee Middleton, 23, had earned their gold awards.
The Duke asked: “Do you know he was my grandfather?
“Sadly he died a few weeks ago. He would have been so pleased that you got your awards.”
The project has benefited from the couple’s Royal Wedding Charitable Gift fund, which totalled more than £1 million when they married almost exactly a decade ago.