AS the 2012 president of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association, Lady Mary Carew Pole is unlikely to be daunted by her major task of presiding over the Royal Cornwall Show.

For she has trekked to the top of the 6,000-metre Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, has done two parachute jumps and learned to fly 'in a single-engined aircraft I chose because it looked like a Spitfire' while staying with an uncle in Kenya.

And in her role as private secretary/lady in waiting to HRH The Princess Royal, based in Buckingham Palace, she was responsible for making sure the princess's working life ran like a well-oiled machine.

'I was the full-time organiser of all her engagements, running her professional life and travelling with her.'

Lady Carew Pole has great respect for the royal family, who are, she says, 'great ambassadors for the country and do an enormous amount for charities'.

Once she married, Lady Carew Pole felt she was unable to carry on in her full-time role working for the princess and was pleased to be appointed a Lady in Waiting.

Lady Carew Pole was brought up by her grandparents in Northumberland and as a young woman had met her husband-to-be many times.But marriage was not the highest thing on her agenda in those days and it was not until many years later that she was to marry Sir Richard Carew Pole.

'I had met him on and off in my twenties but you haven't done much at that age and I had itchy feet to go travelling. It was a good thing to do all my travelling before I got married. I had seen a lot of the world by then,' she said.

Marrying a Cornishman meant setting up home in a county far removed from her roots. Her links are still strong, however, and many family members still live in Northumberland.

'It is quite, quite beautiful... but, of course, much colder than Cornwall!'

Her home at Antony House, near Torpoint, bordering the Lynher estuary, inspires her equally. Although the house and surrounding formal gardens were handed to the National Trust in 1961, it is still their home and the woodland gardens remain under the family's influence.

'We are tenants and it suits extremely well. We could not afford the major capital expenditure. It is a tremendous cushion and a shield and it means you know the house is safe and it has continuity.'

The majority of rooms in the house are open to the public and during opening times, Sir Richard and Lady Carew Pole have private access to a small set of rooms. 'Virtually everything is open to the public, including our bedroom, so we have to be very tidy.'

The popularity of the house does not surprise her. 'It is a very beautiful Queen Anne house, with a nice family atmosphere and lovely furnishings and objects of interest.'

Lady Carew Pole comes from a long line of keen gardeners and she and her husband now spend a good deal of their time 'getting our hands dirty', tending the woodland garden at Antony. It covers 60 acres in all so the work needs careful planning and occasional use of contractors.

Her life has been nothing if not varied. As a qualified teacher, she taught nine to 13 year olds for three years.

'Teaching is the hardest work I have ever done,' she said.

A justice of the peace for 20 years, she chose to take on the work because it was potentially interesting and obviously worthwhile. In her two decades on the bench she found the family cases to be most rewarding, particularly those involving the needs of juveniles.

During her three days at the Royal Cornwall Show, Lady Carew Pole will have a long list of official engagements to attend and that will include visiting some of her own favourite exhibits.

'The show is a great focus for Cornwall and a wonderful day out for the whole family, not just the farming community. It's a good, proper, county agricultural show.'

n The Royal Cornwall Show is at Wadebridge from June 7 to 9.