The Princess Royal paid tribute to the huge effort Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm has made to understand elephants when she declared the attraction’s Elephant Eden officially open.

Pupils from St Nicholas Chantry Primary School in Clevedon and Tickenham Primary School waved flags when the princess arrived at the zoo in Wraxall on Thursday.

Princess Anne chatted with the zookeepers and was treated to a private tour of the 20-acre elephant enclosure, before unveiling a plaque in the elephant house.

Addressing the excited crowd, she said: “I appreciate the amount of effort which has been put in to understand elephants and the care they need.

“Thank you for what you have achieved here and to the Bush family for finishing what they set out to do here.

“As more and more people become increasingly detached from the natural world, farms and places like this are really important to maintain education and understanding. I would like to say a big thank you for what you provide for future generations.”

The £1.6million habitat has been described as a five-star hotel for elephants and has been commended for raising standards of care across the UK.

The facility has been built to three times the size of minimum zoo requirements and is the largest elephant habitat in the country.

It features a huge elephant house, numerous sand yards, an outdoor pool, 20 acres of land for the animals to roam in and hot showers. It is large enough to house six adults and two babies, but the current residents are two bull elephants – Janu and M’Changa.

Noah’s Ark owner Anthony Bush said: “It is an amazing honour to welcome the Princess Royal here.

“She is especially welcome due to her lifelong love of animals and we are most grateful to her for fitting us into her busy schedule.

“We are celebrating the completion of Elephant Eden and Christina and I would like to thank our whole team. These people are heroes.

“I am immensely proud of all they have been doing.”

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Peter Hancock, carried out an official dedication in the elephant house before cutting the ribbon to the slide and play area.

Two-year-old Esther Wilkinson, daughter of the zoo farm’s head keeper Chris, presented the Princess Royal with a bouquet of flowers before she went off for a private tour of the tiger and giraffe enclosures.

Dean Hudd, headteacher at Tickenham Primary School, said: “We spent the whole day there and had a lovely time looking at all the animals.

“We were really excited to be given the unique opportunity to greet Princess Anne and we have been practicing our flag-waving.”