Clarkson's Farm ...

Clarkson's Farm is a British television documentary series about Jeremy Clarkson and his farm in the Cotswolds. The first season was released by Amazon Prime Video on 11 June 2021.[1] The series documents Clarkson's attempts at running a 1,000-acre (400 ha) farm in the Cotswolds, and it has received largely positive reviews. In July 2021, it was renewed for a second series[2] which was released on 10 February 2023.[3] In October 2022, the programme was renewed for a third series.[4]

Clarkson's Farm ...

The farm was formerly part of the Sarsden estate in Oxfordshire. Jeremy Clarkson bought about a thousand acres (4 km2) in 2008, including Curdle Hill Farm. The fields were mostly arable, growing a rotation of barley, rapeseed and wheat. These were farmed on a contract basis by a local villager named Howard until his retirement in 2019. Clarkson then decided to attempt the challenge of farming the land himself.[5]

On Farming Today, Clarkson said that he listens to the BBC programme's podcast. The opinion of the active farmers interviewed was favourable.[15] .mw-parser-output .templatequoteoverflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequoteciteline-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0

I thought it was remarkably good and entertaining. ... Many farmers will think that this is putting them and their experience over in a positive way ... There were some proper laugh-out-loud moments ... I am so inspired by the way that Jeremy Clarkson has talked about the industry and the people who have helped him ...[15]

Other farmers were also reported to have shown an "overwhelmingly favourable" reaction to Clarkson's Farm.[16] The sheep farmer James Rebanks said that the farming community "all loved that programme", and that Clarkson had done more for farming in one series than 30 years of the BBC's long-running farming programme Countryfile.[17] Viewers have found the programme educational and entertaining, and that "they now feel much better informed about farming".[18] The National Farmer's Union has awarded Clarkson 2021 Farming Champion of the Year as "a vocal champion for the British farming industry", and producing that year a show that showcased the realities of farming and one that "has really resonated with the public".[19] Clarkson and his farm assistant Kaleb Cooper won the Flying the Flag for British Agriculture award at the British Farming Awards.[20]

Hugo Rifkind, reviewing for The Times, likes Clarkson's "honesty of self" and appreciated both the good fun and the increasingly earnest engagement, "...you get to watch a familiar face grow smitten with his new life, coming to understand the responsibility of feeding Britain ... a quite lovely documentary series about life on a farm..."[23]

Jeremy Clarkson's venture into farming has caused a storm. Fans of his show Clarkson Farm tune in avidly to watch the latest events at Diddly Squat Farm, and it's fair to say local villages have been impacted by the increased traffic as day trippers line the lanes as they head to his corner of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

"I've watched every episode of both [Clarkson's Farm] series - twice - and I've seen every episode of Clarkson era Top Gear as well as his newer car show The Grand Tour," he confesses. So, it was only natural that the journalist would want to see the farm for himself.

"One person I spoke to inside the farm shop described it as 'the size of a postage stamp'. That might be an exaggeration but it really is tiny inside, which is why people queue for hours just to have the chance to walk through it for a few minutes. In terms of the usable floor space, the whole thing is probably no more than about 10ft by 8ft. It hardly looks like the Sistine Chapel on camera, but you can't get a sense for just how tiny it is until you're stood inside it."

"On Amazon Prime Video, the shop and the farm space is carefully and neatly managed. There's tidy rows of stock and nothing on the walls behind the till. In real life, the shop is absolutely groaning with both stock and souvenirs - tea towels with stuff like 'The Best Farm... In The World' are draped across every surface, there's piles of posters and postcards at the till and there's even knitted dolls of Jeremy and Kaleb sat on a shelf behind the till. Other items like Diddly Squat Gin and a freezer full of ice cream aren't seen on the show. It would appear the place is 'dressed' for TV filming and then all the bells and whistles for tourists are put inside once filming is over and visitors are invited to come clean the place out.

"Outside, there's portaloos in the car park and several overflow emergency car parks are open and allowing cars in, none of which is seen on the programme, and nor are the two hour queues of people lining up along the grass outside the shop. Sure, there's been times where we've seen the farm busy on the TV programme, but I don't recall ever seeing queues of people in the field - yet I learned there's long lines daily in the time it's open to the public.

"Speaking to a fellow visitor who told me she's a regular customer to the farm shop, she said that during very busy periods like half terms, there's a 'pop up shop' set up behind the farm shop building to serve more customers. Another thing you don't see on TV is that there's a burger van, a bar serving beer and cider and even a local lavender flower seller all set up on the tables in the lambing shed. Again, it feels like it's set up differently for the non-filming periods, but there's a lot packed into the space that was never once shown on camera (unless the burger van is going to be a season three spoiler!)."

"Another thing never shown on camera is the sets of signs that adorn the side of the lambing shed to give messages to people queueing for the bustling farm shop. Several laminated signs are stapled to the wall with messages about how Jeremy is from Yorkshire, or explaining that the 'pheasants have red cheeks because they've eaten my wasabi'. Around them, there are literally thousands of messages scrawled on the planks of wood from farm visitors, with everything from 'James May is a d***o" to 'We love Pepper' (the cow Jeremy decided to keep as a pet). It left me wondering if James is planning on scrubbing them all off - as some are quite rude - before filming resumes or the cameras will simply be kept away from the shed walls for series three."

"Standing in the campsite entrance, you can literally read the farm shop sign. It would appear that the campsite isn't Jeremy's property which would explain why it isn't promoted on the show. Jeremy does make reference to a campsite nearby in season one, where he explains to Charlie Ireland that he could make a killing selling farm produce to campers next door. But it's not mentioned at all in season two and I didn't recognise the sign as it's never been shown on TV, and I didn't expect it to be SO close by. It's literally a stone's throw away and there's no way you'd know that from watching the programme, almost like the camera angles are pointed to avoid capturing it at all."

So what did Alex, a fan and first-time visitor, make of Diddly Squat Farm? He said: "Of course, it's a TV show, so it's absolutely to be expected that things are moved around for filming, that the shop is redesigned for its time on camera, or that when Jeremy makes an announcement that the farm is open for visitors, some things will need to be put in place to make it work on a large scale when the cameras aren't rolling. So I'm certainly not suggesting anyone's being deceived, but it was interesting to get a peek behind the scenes and see what it was really like on the ground - and the reality is a little different to watching it on a TV."

He added that while the farm shop was pricey, he "thoroughly enjoyed the trip and there really aren't many opportunities in the UK to walk straight onto a TV set from an international streaming hit - and eat your souvenirs afterwards".

However, the Yorkshire-born motoring journalist turned farmer has confirmed that a third series of the smash Amazon Prime show is in the works in an unusually understated fashion, Yorkshire Live reports.

The second batch of eight more episodes documented Clarkson's fight against council red tape as he battled to diversify his Chipping Norton farm and rear cows to sell in a farm restaurant, despite West Oxfordshire District Council's constant objections.

There were reports that Jeremy Clarkson's farming programme had been axed after he ranted about his 'hate' for the Duchess of Sussex in his column for The Sun following her Netflix documentary with husband Prince Harry, which detractors said promoted violence against women.

Another said: "Awesome, great show. I love the serious messages and awareness the show tries to highlight through the humour. We've had farm shops, Roll on farm cooperatives and farm restaurants."

Others have been taking to social media to weigh in on how much they have enjoyed Jeremy's antics on the farm alongside Kaleb Cooper, Gerald Cooper and other stars like Jeremy's Irish girlfriend Lisa Hogan, as well as farm manager Charlie and vet Dilwyn.

One fan added: "The new series of #ClarksonsFarm is a masterpiece. A beautiful explanation of the issues facing British farmers. I loved the war documentaries but this is the best and most important work @JeremyClarkson has done. From one part time farmer to another."

The next season will see Clarkson get up to more farming shenanigans alongside his girlfriend Lisa and friends Kaleb, Gerald and Charlie whilst inventing new ways to use the 513 unused acres of his farm through "typical Clarkson-crafted schemes". 041b061a72