Indefatigable Queen handed sweet gift on third straight day of public engagements

Watch: Queen visits children's wood project

The Queen has been given a jar of honey as she joked with gardeners about the bean-growing efforts at a community project in Glasgow.

The monarch is on her penultimate day of events in Scotland as part of royal week, and was joined by her daughter Anne to take a trip to the Children's Wood project.

She was given a tour of the once-unloved patch of land, which has become a haven with allotments and beehives in the middle of busy residential streets.

Green-fingered Quinton Cutts told the Queen, 95, about the community spirit during the pandemic.

He said “nobody’s stolen my beans” as he looked at his young plants.

The Queen quipped "perhaps if you had some beans", but then looking down at some produce beginning to ripen she added: "That’s tempting too, the strawberries."

She was given the honey by beekeeper Kathleen Friend and local boy Jacob Wishart, aged eight. Friend said: "I said to the Queen, she could have the honey on her toast and she replied she already had her breakfast."

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The project is run by the Children's Wood charity, and the Queen and Anne were given a tour, including seeing a "Beedookit", hives that are kept up off the ground so that bees can be undisturbed by the public.

Friend told the Queen: "You can sunbathe outside it and they don’t seem to mind."

Local residents can now grow produce in the area and treat it as a garden if they don't have their own, and schools can visit to hold outdoor lessons.

The Queen and Anne, 70, also watched as schoolchildren toasted marshmallows, as they heard about how 20 schools in the area have been taking part in the forest schools initiative.

Jay Mcinally, 17, who introduced his group to the Queen, asked: "So what brings you here, your majesty?" and the Queen replied: "To see all of you."

She declined the offer of a marshmallow, saying: "No, that’s very kind of you."

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Emily Cutts, director of the Children’s Wood charity, hosted the Queen’s visit, and said afterwards: “The Queen liked the idea of our wild space, it’s not a manicured space, it’s a bit rough, and she was also taking about bees, they had a swarm at Windsor.

“So many people have put so much effort over so many years and we’re just a wee patch, so for her to come here is incredible."

After the visit, the Queen and Anne went to Skypark in Glasgow to meet companies working in space technology.

They spoke to staff from AAC Clyde Space, which specialises in the development of advanced satellites, which are used for weather forecasting, environmental and maritime monitoring.

They then went to Spire Global, where they saw a demonstration of data the team collect from satellites above the earth's atmosphere.

The Queen is on her third straight day of engagements as she returns to public facing life with the easing of COVID restrictions.

She started the week of events in Scotland on Monday, joined by her grandson William as they visited the AG Barr factory in Cumbernauld and then enjoyed the welcome to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

She carried on alone on Tuesday, going to Stirling Castle to reopen the The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders’ Museum in her capacity as Patron of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Association.

And she held a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish first minister, telling her it was "good to be back".

It's the first time the Queen has been in Scotland since her husband Prince Philip died in April.

She will be rushing back on Thursday though, as she will host Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, at Windsor Castle on Friday.

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