Clarkson’s great countryside divide: Do you have a house number or a house name?

FROM the Royal family and foreign conflicts to supercars and schools, Jeremy Clarkson’s views have often split the public into two camps. But the presenter claims that what divides the countryside is something very close to home.

Clarkson has blamed people who have “a house name” for leading a backlash against his Diddly Squat farm shop, near the Cotswold village of Chadlington.

Conversely, the broadcaster has said that those living near his farm who “have a house number” broadly support his attempt at agriculture, and the tourism it has brought to the area.

Commenting on his rural neighbours’ view of his farming project, documented in the Amazon series

he said: “In a way, the village is divided. It’s difficult to say how many people support us in the village and how many don’t.

“As far as the farm is concerned, it’s split pretty neatly between those who have a house number – you know, 22 Oak Avenue or whatever – who tend to support us, because we bring business to the area and jobs for their kids. Some of them are more than happy to go have a nice pint with a lovely view just up the road. So that works.

“If they’ve got a house name, they tend not to like us, because they tend to have moved here from London quite recently, and they don’t want crowds of people coming to the farm shop, so that seems to me to be the split.”

While Clarkson’s Farm has been a hit on Amazon, the farm itself has not proved as popular in Chadlington, and the attached farm shop has been a particular point of contention owing to the increased traffic it has generated as a result of tourists flocking to buy produce.

In 2021, Clarkson had a showdown with villagers in a public meeting, but pressed on with his project and later opened a Diddly Squat restaurant alongside the already existing shop.

This site closed in December amid a backlash against a column Clarkson wrote about the Duchess of Sussex, and following the publication of this piece it was announced that after 2024 Clarkson and Amazon would part ways.

There was no confirmation that either act was undertaken in response to the backlash against the column, for which Clarkson has apologised.

The second series of will be released in February.