THERE was royal praise when Princess Anne addressed a seminar on affordable housing in Oaksey on Monday.

Arriving at Oaksey Village Hall she told delegates that the development in Jennings Field built by Rural Housing Trust was a great asset to the village.

"Those of us who were in Oaksey ten or 11 years ago will know how much value these sites have been to the village. It is a rare opportunity to go back and see how important it has been to the community," she said.

"These developments are just as relevant as they were 11 years ago. Without the support of the parish council, rural housing doesn't work because they are the people who have the knowledge of the villages. Other parish councils can learn a lot from Oaksey," she said.

The Princess Royal has been president of the Rural Housing Trust since 1988 and visited Oaksey in 1991 when she opened a four-home development built by the trust in Jennings Field.

After attending the meeting, the Princess Royal drove herself to Jennings Field to meet Jonathan Goodfield, who bought a house when it first opened.

Mr Goodfield is the last of the original residents still at the development, where he lives with his wife Ruth, their six-month-old daughter Hannah and two-year-old son Sam.

Mr Goodfield, 31, who runs his own building firm based in Oaksey and worked for the builders that constructed the homes, said: "Princess Anne was very nice. She asked us what it was like to live there, how well the houses have worn over the years and whether local people had bought them since. She was pleased everybody was from the village.

"I was 19 when I bought the house for £40,000. Being able to buy a house for that price kept me in the village. There are hardly any people here who are between the age of 25 and 30 because they have moved to Malmesbury, Swindon or Cirencester for cheaper housing.

"There has been plenty of room but now that I have Hannah I need more space so I will be moving elsewhere in the village in November."

The land for the Jennings Field site was donated by a local benefactor and was built in partnership between the Trust and Oaksey Parish Council.