The Prince of Wales has spoken of his delight at opening a health and well-being centre in East Ayrshire – something he said he had wanted to do for 35 years.

Charles opened the centre, which will operate as the base for The Prince’s Foundation’s integrated health and well-being programme, at Dumfries House in Cumnock.

More than 100 guests including local GPs and those who have already benefited from activities at the estate attended a special event on Tuesday.

Royal visit to Cumnock
Charles watches as Kenneth Dunsmuir, executive director at the Prince’s Foundation, demonstrates tai chi (Andrew Milligan/PA)

When Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, was receiving a tour of the new facility he joked the gathered press and photographers could do some tai chi – one of the sessions available at the centre along with yoga, cookery, reiki and mindfulness.

Unveiling the plaque, he said: “I’m so glad that all of you have been able to get here today, particularly because I could not be more proud to see the opening of this new integrated health centre at Dumfries House.

“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for the last 35 years. I’m also so proud of all the team at Dumfries House who built it, an all in-house team.

“To reach this point where we can now offer a range of social prescribing opportunities is enormously encouraging and I hope it will be able to make some difference to a lot of the health issues that exist in this area.”

He added: “When I first came here 12 years ago now I had a long list of things I wanted to try and do.

“One of them was to try and see if we could assist in dealing with some of the health issues.

“Having seen and having interrupted a large number of ladies trying to do their meditation already – and I hope benefiting from it, and the yoga – nothing could give me greater pleasure than to congratulate all involved in producing this wonderful centre.”

Royal visit to Cumnock
Dumfries House health and well-being centre (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Carolyn Paton, health and well-being coordinator at Dumfries House, said: “This fantastic new facility will allow us to grow the provision we have offered free of charge to hundreds of people across Ayrshire.

“It’s a really exciting time for the health and well-being team here and it was so special to have His Royal Highness present to open our new home.”

Angelina Panico, a local GP from the Valley Medical Practice in New Cumnock, refers patients to Dumfries House.

She attended the special event along with some of her patients and spoke of the importance of having longevity in the programme and patients being given something to continue after their visit to the centre.

The GP said:  “From my practice and patients’ perspective Prince Charles has been hugely involved in our community and trying to improve services for them.

“His presence and the work he’s done is greatly appreciated by the people of New Cumnock and the wider community.

“He was asking about the patients we’d referred and if we still have plenty of number of patients to refer in the future – which of course we do.

“And he was asking about the activities on at the time, in particularly the yoga.

“I asked if he was keen to join in but he kind of laughed that off.”