YOUNGSTERS greeted Princess Anne with cheers as she arrived at a North-East water treatment works yesterday.

The Princess Royal was in the region to visit Northumbrian Water's Wear Valley Water Treatment Works at Wearhead.

She also went to Cummins engineering site, in Darlington, and opened an £580,000 habitat restoration project in Willington, County Durham.

At the water works, children from Wearhead Primary School were part of the official welcoming party.

Rebecca Robinson, nine, presented the Princess Royal with a small posy.

She said: "I never really thought something like this would ever happen to me."

The princess was given a guided tour of the works, which has won 11 awards for design, innovation and environmental achievement.

The £34m project, which took four years to build, has replaced two former works, one at Wearhead and one at Tunstall, and serves 250,000 customers throughout Bishop Auckland, Wear Valley and part of Sunderland.

The princess also met the grandaughters of Peter Lee, the clean water campaigner whose name was given to the County Durham town, and members of the Pattinson family - three generations have worked at Burnhope Reservoir and the treatment works.

She presented a power sports wheelchair to a pupil from Percy Hedley School, in Forest Hall, Newcastle.

A brass band, flowers and youngsters waving Union Jacks greeted the princess as she visited Willington.

She met community leaders and project partners before unveiling a plaque to open the Jubilee Meadows restored park site, which has been paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The princess told hundreds of villagers who turned out to see her: "It is the most lovely spot."

The princess cancelled an engagement at Deerbolt Young Offenders Institution, in Startforth, near Barnard Castle, in County Durham, due to bad weather.