VIDEO: Duke's youngest son explains why he is creating a brewery at Arundel Castle and how it will benefit the planet's wildlife

In 2013, visitors to Arundel Castle paid a nominal additional charge to visit a small menagerie known as Philip's Zoo. A decade later and the teenager who created the modest attraction and whose name adorned the sign is now a young man of 26 with a passion and determination to play his part in supporting animals around the globe facing extinction. Such is his commitment, he even admits to a Meerkat tattoo, reflecting his love for the animal which was a key feature of the petting zoo.

Fifty metres from the original zoo was an extraordinary Victorian building - with its vaulted ceiling reminiscent of the famous Barons' Hall in the castle itself - which was constructed to provide the castle with electricity. Phil explained: "That's why it's called the Engine Shed. It had steam powered generators in here. The castle was the first ever domesticated dwelling to have electricity in it."

As commercially generated power supplanted it, the building - just opposite the St Mary's Gate Inn behind the castle wall - was abandoned and left derelict. "It wasn't really used for many years and then it was John Dunlop's stables and I believe it was called the Champion Room because it is where his prized horses stayed. That is where our Tap Room is now located. The Tap Room used to be three stables!

"I've always had a complete obsession and love for wildlife and animals. It led me to go and study zoology. While I was at Leeds University I had lots of field trips and luckily I managed to go to South Africa to study and that's where I fell in love with Africa, African wildlife and why I wanted to do something with that after I left university. So after that I went to study to become a safari ranger in Botswana which I absolutely loved but unfortunately while I was out there I got very ill. I was in the Bush literally in the middle of nowhere, about two hours from a local town.

"A local came up to me and he was talking to me about how he makes beer out of mangosteen berries. These berries are Rhino's favourite food. So in the instant while I was very ill I came up with the idea to start a beer brand that's made out of mangosteen berries and help save the Rhino. That was the initial kind of Eureka moment of Fauna Brewing. Then I got better and realised it was an awful idea because you are taking the Rhino's favourite food away, you are removing a berry that is pretty rare and transferring it about 7,000 miles. So that was the start of the thought for Fauna beer.

"After a lot of market research I realised that of all the drinks, beer was definitely the one to go for. Not knowing anything about beer except what tastes good in my opinion, I had to learn about how it is made, the business side of it - and also the animals I wanted to help support. So I got a lot of advice.

"Our beer is inspired by the wildlife. So for example our Cheetah Lager is crisp, refreshing, it's fast drinking; while our Wild Dog IPA is kind of fun, hoppy, sociable. Our Pango is wonderfully weird, a bit strange, a bit peculiar, lower in alcohol (2.8%). A lot of craft breweries try to over-complicate things, very high ABVs, ‘ice cream’ stouts. At Fauna, we say 'simple beers done well.'

"So we do your classic lager, an IPA with a slight twist ... we are about to launch our cask range, with golden ales and the best bitters but again they will be authentic and traditional.

"Currently we brew the beer just north of Chichester but we just got planning permission so we are looking to build our brewery here [in the Engine Shed next to the Tap Room] and we are hoping to be up and running in January. Our brewing capacity is currently 4,000 litres per month and we will be going all the way up to about 40,000 litres per month. At the moment we are only able to supply the Tap Room and a few other local businesses in Arundel but we will be able to sell throughout Sussex."

Phil's full title might be Lord Philip Fitzalan Howard, but he is very well grounded and down to earth. "The Tap Room formally opened on June 18. We have been open weekends throughout the whole of the summer and we are now open Thursdays all the way through to Sundays, with Thursday always having an event. The events range from bingo, live music, pub quizzes, and we hope to do comedy nights, meet the brewers."

The variety of events and food served from food trucks has helped Phil and the great team there understand what people most want. "That's why we settled on pizza because it has been absolutely loved. We are about to put a pizza oven in with fresh wood fire pizzas with the wood from the estate."

There has been a very big mix of people coming along. "We have already got our locals, people who live in Arundel. But there are also those who have travelled really quite far because Fauna had been going for about 18 months before we moved out of London to Sussex - so lots of people had already been fans of Fauna.

Fauna beer has an exceptional flavour and an even better after-taste - the knowledge that it is making a real environmental difference. Do call in and buy a pint and see first hand the amazing transformation that is taking place - just five metres away from the original Philip's Zoo.

For full details: https://faunabrewing.com/