Prince Charles visits Dorset as a new community prepares to put down its roots

When the Prince of Wales visits Dorchester, you normally expect him to look around Poundbury, his model community. But today he was at a housing development on the other side of town.

Land in Fordington's been part of the Duchy's estate for centuries. Now it's providing affordable homes for local people.

Richard Kerslake was happy to show the Prince around the home he moved into in June last year: "He just wanted to have a look around. I was a bit taken aback really, they said he might call, but I didn't expect to see him. I wasn't sure and then he said I'm coming in with you. There you go, you can't stop him can you?"

It was the same around the corner at Ellie Jowett and Charlie Lake's new house.

"Prince Charles came to visit us, came round. He liked the view, he liked the property and he liked how it was a shell when we began and we got to choose everything. He liked our furniture, which is a nice thing."

Charles also planted a crab apple tree on the site's new allotments beforeheading to the nearby Poundbury development, the extension to Dorchester which he was instrumental in creating.

In Poundbury, the Prince of Wales hopes to create a community, rather than a soulless housing estate, where the design of the place is about more than the look of the buildings. Architecture is important too as you can tell from the stone work of the new Duchess of Cornwall pub. Today the Prince also came to see Poundbury's stonemasonry students and he found a tongue-tied fan.

"It was nice to talk to him and nice for him to see it because I didn't get chance to tell him but I really like what he's doing here in Poundbury."

Poundbury is expected to be fully completed by 2025 by which time it will have 2,200 homes.

It is already home to 2,500 people, providing employment for some 2,000 people and housing more than 170 businesses.

We can expect another visit in a few months. By then, Poundbury will be bigger again.