Prince Harry goes wild in the Essex countryside

• Click to watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Serena Sandhu

Prince Harry watched on as school children got soaked during a visit to a conservation project that aims to teach youngsters to value the countryside.

The royal joked with one group as they were drenched by a bucket of water while testing a supposedly waterproof shelter as part of the Chatham Green Project at the Wilderness Foundation in Chatham Green, near Chelmsford in Essex.

Children from Felsted School in Essex had built shelters between trees using sticks, rope and tarpaulin as part of a survival course.

An instructor threw a bucket of water over one shelter as children sat inside it to test whether it was waterproof, and there were shrieks and giggles from the children as water poured through a hole in the roof and drenched them.

As children clambered out of the den Harry shook the instructor's hand and said "that's cruel!"

One of the children quipped "we survived".

The Prince, joking with the children, said: "How did you allow this to happen? I'm serious, look, how did you allow that to happen?

"I think what you need to do is you need to remake it and then put him (the instructor) in it."

Harry also spoke to youngsters making nettle and mint tea, and saw children lighting fires.

The children were taking part in the Chatham Green Project and the day's theme was Survival and Nature Connection.

The project is an education programme which aims to teach more than 3,000 pupils each year to take action to protect the countryside and our wider environment.