Duchess of Cambridge to appear on Blue Peter to launch royal garden competition

The Duchess of Cambridge will appear on Blue Peter on Thursday’s show, to launch a competition asking children to design a sculpture for her ‘Back to Nature’ garden.

The film shows Kate, 37, getting stuck in with pond dipping, planting and team den building with local children and Blue Peter presenter, Lindsey Russell at Westminster City Council’s Paddington Recreation Ground.

The duchess talks about the benefits of being outdoors, as part of her mission to encourage children and families to get back to nature.

Kate tells Lindsey: “It encourages creativity, confidence and even a short amount of time - 10-15 minutes outside - makes a huge difference to physical well-being but also to our mental well-being.”

In the film the duchess, wearing her very own Blue Peter badge pinned to her Troy London jacket, joins the children looking for newts and tadpoles, revealing that pond dipping is “massively up my street.”

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She is also clearly delighted at the prospect of den building saying she has done it before and “I love it, but I am in your hands.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge first visited the Blue Peter set in December 2017 when they were each presented with a gold Blue Peter badge for their campaign work on mental health and mental health issues affecting children.

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The Queen was awarded the badge during her Golden Jubilee year in 2002.

The garden Kate co-designed with award-winning landscape architects Andrée Davies and Adam White for the Chelsea Flower Show was a huge success, with visitors queuing for up to two hours to view the space.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also brought along their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to play in the garden before its opening.

On the preview night, a nervous Kate was spotted picking up stray leaves and stuffing them into her bag before the Queen arrived for a tour.

The winner of the Blue Peter competition will have their sculpture built and installed in the duchess’ garden at RHS Wisely in Surrey in September.

The space will feature many of the elements of the Chelsea garden, along with the winning sculpture competition entry.

For more details, T&C’s and to enter the competition visit: bbc.co.uk/BluePeter.