THE Duchess of Cornwall had several important tasks to perform when she made a return trip to the Exmoor Pony Centre near Dulverton on Monday in her role as patron of The Moorland Mousie Trust.

As well as launching a new book, the Duchess was called on to officially open the newly-built visitor centre at the trust's Ashwick headquarters.

The Duchess has a long-held interest in Exmoor ponies after reading the famous Moorland Mousie books about the adventures of a moorland pony as a child.

The trust is named after the books, which were written in the 1920s, and it has long been a dream of the charity's founder, Val Sherwin, to reprint one of them.

"The timing for this visit was just right," said Mrs Sherwin. "We had completed the renovation work on the new building and were considering options for an opening celebration when we got the call from the Duchess's office.

"As it was Moorland Mousie who bought us together in the first place, it seemed like the perfect time to re-launch the book."

The Duchess spent a couple of hours at the trust headquarters meeting staff, volunteers and supporters and chatting to a group of schoolchildren from Dulverton.

The Duchess unveiled a plaque to commemorate her second visit and said she was looking forward to taking copies of the reprinted book back for her grandchildren.

"The afternoon was a complete success," said Mrs Sherwin. "The Duchess was very relaxed, and took the time to speak to everyone and to make sure that each of the ponies had a Polo mint!

"Needless to say, that part didn't go quite to plan. Barney, our naughtiest pony, managed to steal the limelight as she was leaving by spitting his polo back, much to everyone's amusement."

The Moorland Mousie book is available in the Exmoor Pony Centre shop, with all profits going to the work of the charity.

Photos: Mike Sherwin