AN IT expert who swapped his desk for a chainsaw received the royal seal of approval for his new business when Prince Charles came to visit.

The Prince of Wales delighted Dave Marchant and staff by visiting Coedcae Farm where Dave runs his sustainable firewood and tree management business near Bridgend.

Dave first met the Prince earlier this year when he was presented with Prime Cymru’s Award for Green Business at a prestigious awards ceremony.

Prime Cymru (The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise in Wales) was founded in 2001 to support individuals aged over 50 into setting up in business or finding employment.

The Prince was given a tour around the tree management and wood business learning about the practicalities and eco credentials of Dave’s business in depth.

“Coedcae Services is a green business in every way – we are about the whole life cycle of trees. We plant thousands of trees, we cut down trees, we make furniture out of the very good wood, we remove diseased larch trees and use them in our wood-fired kiln to dry locally sourced wood and then these logs are sold to the public to heat their homes. Nothing is wasted in our business,” said Dave Marchant, Coedcae Services.

Coedcae Services has expanded enormously in the past three years and now employs several staff with plans to significantly increase output in 2017 to over 1,000 tons of firewood per year. Kiln dried logs are said to have revolutionised the firewood business as they provide a consistently dry firewood.

Dave is very passionate about his work but the tree and wood business has not always been his line of work. At the age of 50 Dave took a dramatic career change, getting out from behind a desk and up into the trees with a chainsaw.

“I had a very good career in IT but really felt that I had no quality of life. I finally thought, Enough is enough. I remembered how happy I used to be working outside in the woods with my grandfather.

"So, at the age of 50, I decided to chuck everything in and become a lumberjack. Since then the business has just grown and grown and we have taken on more staff to meet the demand for our sustainable wood products.”

Find out more about the scheme at primecymru.co.uk