THE Princess Royal began her day in Notts with a 'visit' to an inmate in his cell at Lowdham Grange training prison.

And she impressed staff with her expert knowledge of the prison system and rehabilitation work.

She was shown the in-cell learning scheme, which allows prisoners to use laptops in their cells as part of their training.

Princess Anne, who arrived by helicopter just after 11am, and toured the education block with prison director John Biggin, saw the Sycamore Tree project, in which prisoners speak to victims of crime.

She said to one of the volunteers: "'Why me and why did you do it?' is what victims want to know, which is interesting as that is something the penal system never answers."

The Princess also visited the 'Story Time Dads' project.

It was launched after the education unit was given help by the Butler Trust, of which Princess Anne is a patron.

She listened to stories made up by prisoners for their children and asked if they had considered extending the project to produce 'story sacks'.

This is where prisoners make gifts for their children to go with the stories which they record onto a CD.

Mr Biggin said: "It was an honour and a genuine privilege to welcome the Princess Royal to Lowdham Grange.

"I was hugely impressed both with her expert knowledge of prison issues and her genuine interest in all our work to rehabilitate offenders."