Large queues are not uncommon at Jeremy Clarkson‘s Diddly Squat Farm.
Set just outside the idyllic village of Chadlington in Chipping Norton, the Top Gear presenter, 65, has transformed the thousand acre Cotswolds estate into a thriving rural business.
Not only does he grow barley, wheat, asparagus, strawberries, beetroot and more, but the TV presenter’s Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm has caused an influx of visitors to his quaint farm shop, often to the dismay of locals.
Tourists from all over the UK and the world make the pilgrimage to the barn-come-gift shop which sells prime cuts of meat, fresh eggs and pork pies alongside candles, soap and branded chopping boards.
Fans flock from the US, Canada, Australia and South Africa to buy their own glass milk bottle emblazoned with the words ‘Cow Juice’.
And they’re not the only ones.
The Grand Tour presenter recently revealed he is massively popular in China and has noticed an increase in visitors from Asia.
In an interview with The Times, Clarkson said the show ‘brought a whole new audience who’d never watched a single programme I’d made.’
Tourists from all over the UK and the world make the pilgrimage to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm and farm shop in the Cotswolds (pictured on season 1 of Clarkson’s Farm)
Chinese travellers Zhng Chen, 22, (left) and Celine Chen, 24, hired a car to drive down to the farm and weren’t fazed by the snaking queues around the parking lot
The Grand Tour presenter recently revealed he is massively popular in China and has noticed an increase in visitors from Asia who flock to his farm shop near the village of Chadlington
He added: ‘It’s massively popular in China. A huge number of Chinese people come to the farm shop and the pub. I said to one of them the other day, “Why do you like it?” He said, “We watch it because we cannot believe how incompetent you are.”‘
But it turns out there’s an even more bizarre reason for the increase in Asian fans of Clarkson stopping by his shop.
Chinese travellers Zhng and Celine Chen hired a car to drive down to the farm and weren’t fazed by the snaking queues around the parking lot.
The pair, who had travelled from Xi’an, central China had not watched the show at all but had instead come across Clarkson’s farm shop on social media.
Mr Chen, 22, explained he didn’t really know who the presenter was but liked the look of the products for sale.
He told MailOnline: ‘Me and my girlfriend wanted to come to see the local products and we saw the farm shop on The Little Red Book (a Chinese social media platform similar to Instagram or TikTok).
‘It’s really popular on the app.’
He then explained that the Chinese-approved social media app is filled with videos showing off products from the farm including Clarkson’s ‘milk juice’ machine and banded glass bottles as well as scented candles and branded aprons.
Ms Chen, 24, agreed and added that she’d only been happy to travel all this way so she could buy his famous milk (which costs £6.10 for the glass bottle and £1.50 per litre).
She said: ‘We saw the milk bottles online and we came because we just like the shop – we love the products, they’re cute.’
Inside Clarkson’s farm shop are shelves stacked with tongue-in-cheek products like scented candles called: ‘This smells like my b*******’ and honey labeled as ‘Bee Juice’.
Everything from sausage rolls to T-shirts, bottle brushes and wooden boards with slots for boiled eggs are covered in the Diddly Squat Farm logo and it seems tourists can’t get enough.
Mr Chen added: ‘The show is really popular in China because people like the cars – I’m a big fan of the cars – and the things for sale here.’
The couple then revealed they planned to buy milk, jams and anything else they’d spotted in videos online.
And they weren’t the only tourists who had made Diddly Squat farm a stop on their journey around the UK.
The pair, who had travelled from Xi’an, central China had not watched the show at all but had instead come across Clarkson’s farm shop on the Chinese social media app Little Red Book
He then explained that the Chinese-approved social media app is filled with videos showing off products from the farm including Clarkson’s ‘milk juice’ machine and banded glass bottles
Desmond Hoo, 39, from Singapore, travelled to the UK for a holiday with his wife Qing, mother-in-law and two children (pictured with their daughter Anna, 4)
Desmond Hoo, 39, from Singapore, travelled to the UK for a holiday with his wife, mother-in-law and two children.
The family had landed at Liverpool and travelled down, staying in Cheltenham and dropping in to Clarkson’s farm shop on their way to London.
The father-of-two revealed that while the farm was out of the way, it was an essential pitstop for them.
He explained that he and his wife Qing, 32, were fans of the show because they felt like it gave them an insight in to the UK
Mr Hoo told MailOnline: ‘We’ve watched all the seasons of Clarkson’s Farm. We love the British humour. We actually didn’t know who Jeremy Clarkson was before we saw the show but he’s funny and we feel like he’s a real entrepreneur.’
Mrs Hoo agreed and said she enjoyed watching the show to understand more about nature and the British countryside.
‘We’ve learnt about farming and nature and about the preservation of the countryside.
‘Jeremy Clarkson is so funny and he’s shown farming is hard.’
The couple said the trip to the Cotswolds was worth it and they loved browsing the farm shop and bought jams, honey, milk and some trinkets.
Mrs and Mrs Hoo said they had travelled all the way to the farm shop because the show helped them understand more about nature and the British countryside
The couple said the trip to the Cotswolds was worth it and they loved browsing the farm shop and bought jams, honey, milk and some trinkets
Inside Clarkson’s farm shop are shelves stacked with tongue-in-cheek products like scented candles called: ‘This smells like my b*******’ and honey labeled as ‘Bee Juice’
Tourists from all over the UK and the world make the pilgrimage to the barn-come-gift shop which sells prime cuts of meat, fresh eggs and pork pies
And it’s not just couples and families adding Diddly Squat to their sightseeing list.
Andre Xue, 29, moved from his home near Beijing to the UK to work for BYD Cars, a Chinese electric car manufacturer, and said he had hired a car to drive to the farm just outside Oxford because he loved the cars on Clarkson’s show.
He said: ‘I like the show because of Jeremy Clarkson’s cars and I like him too. I think he’s a really charming person and he’s really funny.’
Catherine Chi, 20, had travelled to the UK to visit friends and said she had wanted to stop by the shop to have a look around but admitted she’d only seen one of the three seasons of the show.
She said she was excited to buy something and try the food but was only ‘a little bit interested’ in watching the other seasons of the hit show.
Other visitors were more keen on the series with Light Huong, 34, revealing he was a big fan.
The visitor, originally from Hong Kong but now living in the UK, said he wanted to come down to the shop so he could feel like he was ‘shopping locally and trying the fresh produce’.
Mr Huong’s wife Michelle Kong, 34, added that she liked coming to the farm shop because it made her feel connected to nature and explained the British countryside is a far cry from her city life in Hong Kong.
Andre Xue, 29, (pictured) from Beijing had hired a car to drive to the farm just outside Oxford because he loved the cars on Clarkson’s show
Snaking queues are a normal sight at the small barn that houses all of Clarkson’s farm products and people are happy to wait for more than an hour to get inside and browse
Catherine Chi, 20, was visiting friends in the UK and said she had wanted to stop by the shop to have a look around but admitted she’d only seen one of the three seasons of the show
Clarkson’s cow juice machine was out of order but it didn’t stop Asian fans of the show who had seen it online from taking pictures of it and buying milk bottles inside
The visitor said: ‘There’s a big difference between here and Hong Kong.
‘There we lived in apartment blocks with no access to gardens or the outside or farms.’
She added that previously they’d been unaware of the realities of farming but felt Clarkson’s Farm and the farm shop had enlightened them.
‘We didn’t know the issues and problems with farming,’ Ms Kong said, ‘but now we do.’
And while the hordes of tourists flocking to the farm is good news for Clarkson, his increasing popularity has put him at loggerheads with locals.
In February local residents were furious over their narrow roads becoming rat runs for traffic between Clarkson’s farm shop and his pub, The Farmer’s Dog – and have demanded urgent action from Google.
The presenter’s neighbours led by parish council leaders in villages nearest the pub are urging internet bosses to redirect drivers using their Google Maps app, towards main roads rather than narrow village alternatives.
Clarkson himself has also made a plea to motorists on the pub’s website to use only main roads and not the smaller single-track lanes through quaint quiet villages which can appear on Google Maps as most direct routes between his farm shop and pub.
Light Huong, 34, and his wife Michelle, 34, (pictured) said they liked the farm shop because it made them feel connected to nature compared to their city lives on Hong Kong
And while the hordes of tourists flocking to the farm is good news for Clarkson, his increasing popularity has put him at loggerheads with locals
A message on the pub’s website now reads: ‘If you’re travelling to The Farmer’s Dog, especially from Diddly Squat Farm Shop, please use the main roads.
‘If you try to use the single-track cross-country route, I guarantee it will be slower because you’ll spend half your time backing up and looking for a passing place.’
The disruption caused by Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm Shop has attracted some criticism from neighbours.
Last year Clarkson went to war with local ramblers at his Diddly Squat Farm – by placing 11 beehives at the perimeter of his farmhouse next to a public footpath to keep out nosey fans.
The presenter-turned-farmer also clashed with the local council after he opened his farm shop which later caused congestion on the roads due to its popularity, and last year he was forced to close his own restaurant for breaching planning rules.
Previous stumbling blocks also include having to resubmit a planning application to after he supposedly used the wrong materials for the roof and initially had his now-thriving 70-seat restaurant denied by West Oxfordshire District Council.
