Charles’s paperwork goes into compost at Highgrove

THE Prince of Wales’s head gardener is developing compost by using shredded paperwork and organic waste from the Highgrove estate to help tackle the effect of climate change.

“Anything that is compostable, we use. And in the future we hope to expand,” Brian Corr told The Sunday Telegraph on a visit to the 15-acre estate near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

“We want a proper operation, properly composted, and to show excellence in how to do it.”

Kitchen leftovers, garden waste and even shredded documents from the estate’s offices already go into making valuable compost for the estate.

But Mr Corr wants more, and has set his sights on expanding the garden’s compost operation more than threefold in the next few years.

It is not just about making the most of the garden’s waste. This organic compost has vital nutrients and having a steady supply means they can regularly top up the soil, helping to retain moisture as the estate adapts to increasingly warm temperatures.

Mr Corr agrees it would be “fun” if there was Duchy Organic compost for sale one day.

Mr Corr, who has been gardening for 40 years, since he was taught by his father as a child in Londonderry, moved to Highgrove last year from his role as head gardener at the Palladian Dumfries House in Ayrshire.

The biggest change has been adapting to the warmer southern temperatures. “I’m gardening in a [different] climate now,” he said. “I had minus 21C in Scotland in the wintertime, and frost in every month except July and August.”

But that climate is also changing and as well as increasing its organic compost, Highgrove is looking to adapt by using more drought-resistant plants.

“We’re always trying to compensate for increasing temperatures and climate change. But it’s hard to predict what it’s going to look like,” said Mr Corr.