She said: “I can’t even put that on because I’ve got two fingers stuck together!”
William was able to get stuck in though, and also tried his hand at whittling, with 10-year-old Jake giving him some tips on how to use the knife.
The heir to the throne admired his young assistant’s handiwork, saying of a stick Jake had whittled himself: “Is this yours? It’s brilliant.”
The Prince and Princess looked thrilled to be helping out with making dens and preparing food around a campfire with the schoolchildren.
The group sat under a canopy in the forest as they prepared apple, cinnamon and sugar skewers to toast on a fire.
Kate said: “It’s like a healthy marshmallow. It always tastes so much better whenever you cook something on the fire.
“I’ve seen 1000 marshmallows around the fire but I’ve never seen a sugar-dipped apple. I’m going to try this with my kids.”
William added that it “smelled delicious”, as they were informed how the children learn to start building and maintaining the fire once they get into Year 6.
The Princess praised the school for its efforts to teach children about the outdoors, saying: “These are really good skills to learn, to be able to keep warm, to feed yourselves.
“Is it nice learning here? It’s so peaceful, isn’t it? I could stay here all afternoon.”
Pupils at the school attend outdoor activity sessions every week to learn about awareness of the environment, conservation and woodland management.
