Spuds speed off shelves as Clarkson throws open doors to his farm shop
TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson swapped Porsches for potatoes at the weekend as he threw open the doors to his farm shop for the first time.
At the Squat Shop – named after his farm Diddly Squat – near Chipping Norton, in the Cotswolds, the Grand Tour host sold potatoes, raffled off water in yellow bottles and gave away cider that had been donated by Blur’s Alex James.
Clarkson, born in Doncaster and raised at Tickhill, has been running the 1,000-acre farm for more than a year for a forthcoming Amazon Prime show called I Bought a Farm.
At the shop’s “grand opening”, Clarkson cheerily sold potatoes to a steady stream of members of the public who queued to get in.
“It’s going really well. We’ve had a good turnout and we’ve had more customers than Aldi – we’re putting the German giants out of business,” he said.
“This is the end of supermarket shopping!
“Farming is hard work, but it is rewarding when you sell potatoes and other produce as it comes on song. I’m only selling what is seasonal. The pumpkins, lavender and the honey will all be coming – so there’s quite a lot to do.”
Clarkson’s shop sold potatoes for £1.02 per 2kg, declaring them “cheaper than Aldi” on the labels. Shelves with “mildly organic” horseradish and “good exercise chicken eggs” were left empty.
Elsewhere on the farmland were Clarkson’s health and safetystyle signs, which told visitors “do NOT catch fire” near an open fire and “don’t fall in this big hole” near a hole in the ground.
I Bought a Farm is expected to be out later this year.