GRAND MOOER
JEREMY CLARKSON AS HE TRIES TO COPE WITH LIFE ON HIS FARM TV presenter on his plans to buy a herd of Highland cows
farm during lockdown was fantastic but in some ways it was awful as we could not have picked a worse year to start farming than 2019.
“The weather was biblical – five different weather records set in that 12- month period – and that’s even before the global pandemic set in.
“All of it was out of my comfort zone. I thought farming was you put seeds in the ground, weather happens, you grow food and then you go on a skiing holiday and moan about how crap the weather was – but it’s much more complicated than that.
“Every single thing in farming is complicated and is made more complicated by government interference. The number of things you can’t do beggars belief. The biggest surprise was how little freedom farmers have to do what they are good at.”
But despite all the trials and tribulations, Jeremy – who bought a tractor that is too big for his shed – admitted he was never tempted to throw the towel in.
He said: “I never thought about giving up and I never will. The cameras stopped rolling last August but I’m still farming and 90 per cent of my life is now spent doing it. I really love it.
“It is the most rewarding thing I have done and, when one bad thing happens, two good things usually follow. It is hard work but it’s hard work I choose to do. You would think farming might have made me more practical. Well, it hasn’t.”
Jeremy, whose strong and controversial opinions have divided audiences for decades, said – love him or hate him – his new series makes good television.
He added: “Yes, there are going to be a great many people who will take pleasure in seeing me struggle but, even if they are only watching to see a big fat f***** fall on his face, they’re still tuning in and that, in my books, is a success.
“Even the locals, who were bound to have rolled their eyes at this idiot wannabe farmer from London when I first arrived, now recognise I am serious and we have proper farming chats.”
Jeremy has also found an adorable sidekick in local Kaleb Cooper, 21, who has become his tractor driver, weather oracle and right-hand man.
Dad-of-three Jeremy, who is used to being ribbed by fellow TV hosts James May and Richard Hammond, said: “Kaleb is fantastic. He is a bit of a star and might end up getting his own series. I didn’t even have to look too far as he was already driving the farm tractor.
“I’ve learned an awful lot from him, like how to attach things to the back of a tractor, not to get sheep and that you can spray a field if the leaves are moving but not the branches. There is a 40-year age gap but I am quite young in my head and he is quite old in his so we are the same, really, and that’s why we get on.”
Known for being cynical and brash, viewers of the new eight-part series will see a different Jeremy – one who tries to keep a tiny lamb alive and cries when three of his sheep head to the abattoir.
He said: “I get emotional occasionally. It was a very sad day when three of my sheep had to go off to the abattoir. Nobody likes to hurt or upset an animal, especially farmers. They want to look after their animals and I’m no different.
“I wanted to look after them and give them a happy life but they had to go to the abattoir. It was upsetting but that’s how the business works and I needed to learn the hard way.”