A ROYAL visit to Britain's favourite open air museum at Beamish turned into the tale of the princess and the pit pony last week.

An accomplished horsewoman in her own right, it was no surprise that the Princess Royal spent more than her allotted time at Friday's visit to the County Durham museum with Pip the 28-year-old pit pony and his handler, Martin Gallagher.

She listened with interest as Martin explained how the tough little pony had spent several years toiling underground.

A rare Cleveland Bay stallion named Jason also caught the attention of the Princess, who told Beamish horseman Peter Brasset that the Royal family also owned a number of the dwindling breed.

It was the first time the Princess Royal had visited Beamish and she was clearly eager to see as much as possible of the venture.

During her two-hour tour, she popped into the museum's sweet shop before going to the new Carriage House, which has been funded by grants from The Vaux Foundation and the European Regional Development Fund.

On display in the building were some of the museum's collection of restored horse-drawn vehicles including an 1890s horse bus, a Holt's Pantechnicon removal van, and a horse-drawn hearse.

Unveiling the plaque to mark the official opening of the Carriage House, the Princess said she had been greatly impressed by Beamish and wished it every success in the future.

She then left for the coastal town of Seaham. As president of the Mission to Seafarers, she had accepted an invitation to open the town's ecumenical Seafarers Centre.

Earlier, she had crowned six years of hard work for a group of Bishop Auckland volunteers when she opened their community resource centre.