Explore Diddly Squat: A Tour of Jeremy Clarkson's Farm Shop and Clarkson's Farm

I've been doing Cotswolds tours for nearly 23 years but when I saw the recently released series by Jeremy Clarkson about his own farm in the Cotswolds, I became addicted to watching it back to back and couldn't stop laughing out loud. It's the best factual series on TV and certainly the most popular with an IMDb rating of 9.3 and shows how hard farming is and how much weather plays in the farms profits. Jeremy Clarkson has a gift for making programmes that are entertaining and informative including his Diddly Squat farm shop and his own Clarkson's farm in the beautiful Cotswolds. In season 4, he will showcasing his Hawkstone Brewery, The Farmer's Dog Pub, and his new addition, the geese.

You will either love him or loathe him with his less than PC moments but most people I know who do loathe him seem to forgive him as they are transported to a little known farm called Diddly Squat near the village of Chadlington.

The Cotswolds is an area of outstanding beauty and in the series you have moments that inspire you with great cinematography in high definition especially the rolling hills at sunset when harvesting the crops.

Jeremy Clarkson infront of Diddly Squart Sign

We have seen in the first series that parking was limited and that many people could only park on the verge. The situation is better now as there is a car park with an overflow car park. But.... in busy period, people still can only park on the verges. My recommendation is to get there at 8.50am which means a 7am start at your London hotel. Doors open at 9.30am and there can be a long line at that time which I've shown in the video below. Once you finish the farm shop, you can then make you way to the outside eatery behind which opens at 10am

https://diddlysquatfarmshop.com/

The product range comes complete with Clarkson's own unPC titles:

This smells like my bo**ocks - scented candles

cow juice 24/7 - local milk

Jeremey's Go Nuts - nuts

For me the star of the show is the no nonsense Kaleb Cooper who is the farm manager and doesn't treat Jeremy as a celebrity and gives him some words of advice normally in single syllables. Some of the cast do appear from time to time at Diddly Squat so you'll never know who you might see there.

This is a typical day tour to see the shop and experience the food in the cafe behind.

We can also go to Jeremy's own Hawkstone Brewery which is about 25 minutes away afterwards and it has a sit down pop-up pub sited on the side

Jeremy has a single standing stone on his land which is called Hawkstone and was the inspiration for branding his micro-brewed lager Hawkstone. There are brewery tours available by prebooking on their website. There is a pop-up outdoor eatery which opens at 12 noon and outside seating is available on sunny days.

Jeremy has also bought the Windmill Pub in Asthall near Burford and renamed it "The Farmers Dog" and now it is open. I just updated this blog to include it.

For futher information, please visit their website on https://hawkstone.com/

The Farmers Dog Pub

Jezzer (Jeremy Clarkson) has bought the old Windmill Pub in Astall near Burford and renamed it The Farmer's Dog. It's only 20 minutes away from Diddly Squat and its on the edge of the Cotswolds with one of the best vistas in the area. Because of it's close proximity to the A40 and it's rural location, it was formally used as a dogging site. I had to explain to my American clients that dogging sites are nothing to do with dogs.

Jezzer has a winner here with a lot of thought gone into the food, building and the garden. The garden has the old Grand Tour tent in it with room inside to eat, buy merchandise that they are not allowed to sell in the farm shop and the famous Hawkstone beer.

There are traditional picnic tables outside the Grand Tour tent so you can experience some of the magic eating al fresco whilst relaxing in beautiful surroundings. The rear raised decking outside the pub offers the same breathtaking view. The building was a 15th century barn which was used as a soup kitchen in the second world war and susequently converted to a barn-style house.

Have a look at the photos in the gallery because they give you an idea on how much you can see here. Click on the website for more information https://thefarmersdogpub.com/

It's open Wednesday-Sunday from 9.30am - 11pm

Food service is also Wednesday-Sunday

Lunch 12 noon - 3pm, last sitting 2.45pm

Dinner 5.30pm - 9pm, last sitting 8.45pm

Sunday Carvery 12pm to 6.30pm

What do you need know before you arrive? The pub is busy on each day it is open and the only way you can guarentee to eat there in the evenings or Sunday carvery is by prebooking online. You need to plan ahead so go to the website https://thefarmersdogpub.com/

For lunches, there is a new booking system with the first slot at 9am. At the moment, the queues are longer than Diddy Squat so I would suggest making your way there to arrive at 11.30am for the first sitting at 12 noon. I arrived last time at 2.15pm and waited only 20 minutes to make the last sitting. There's a very well organised maître d' who keeps people updated on the wait time and helps with the throughput. He will also tell you that you can make your way straight into the bar area if you are looking to only have a drink. You can jump the queue and not realise it.

I've been reviewing eateries in the Oxfordshire and Buckighamshire area for 23 years https://www.tailoredtoursuk.com/post/best-restaurant-guide-for-buckinghamshire-and-oxfordshire

This is not your normal eatery. It has many aspects that gives it some standout reasons to come. It's unique because of the following:

Supplies some great traditional pub dishes with a twist and the quality is very good considering the number of covers that it serves which contarary to popular belief, also caters for vegetarians as well as the omnivores. I've been a number of times and the high quaility has been maintained.
Doesn't serve ketchup and Coke. You can try the alternative Oxford Sauce and try some sparking juices instead of the Coke. This is an independant eatery bringing back British made products to British people and some foreign nationals.
All the ingrediants for the food are pooled from a cooperative set up by Jezza from farms local to Chadlington. If you go to the meat counter in The Grand Tour tent, you will see some of the best British beef and lamb on offer, all supplied by the cooperative. Their sausage rolls are about 4 times bigger than the normal sized one and the best in flavour and texture. £5.25 is a great price considering the quality and quantity.
Probably the best al fresco vista for miles around so try to drink on the decking outside of the pub or eat at the picnic tables adjacent to The Grand Tour tent. When the sun does eventually shine, it will probably be the biggest pull to come here.
There's a merchandising area in The Grand Tour tent for products that are unavalable at Diddly Squat such as T-shirts and baseball caps. You can see more of the products on sale including the mushroom making kit by looking at my gallery photos.
if you are looking at a quick visit and something to eat, then go to The Farmer's Puppy, it's adjacent to the The Grand Tour Tent and offers some quick food still with the same ethos as the pub.

There are two types of tours, the Petrolhead Tour (American's call this gearhead or motorhead) and the Cotswold Tour.

The Petrolhead Tour

The pertrolhead tour is aimed at motor enthusiasts who want to see the farm shop but also see some of the historical exponents of automotive engineering excellence in the UK. This includes a visit to Diddly Squat and can also include:

British Motor Museum

British National Motor Museum at Beaulieu

Silverstone Museum which is the home of the British Grand Prix

The Triumph Motorbike Factory Visit

The National Motorbike Museum

There's a new Formula 1 exhibition which started on 23 August 2024 for a limited period at the ExCel London but has now moved to Amsterdam. When I visited in August 2024, two parts of the exhibition really made me reflect, firstly, racing driver Juan Fangio says that "Only a crazy man finishes in the cemetery" mentioning that 36 fellow drivers died during his racing career. That part makes you reflect on the death of some of the greatest racing drivers to have ever lived. Secondly, the area showing how four inspirational people changed the sport during their time, Ron Denis, Frank Williams, Colin Chapman and Enzo Ferrari.

For website, please click here

I'm a chartered gas and mechanical engineer and always had a fascination with aircraft and automotive production. I rebuilt my Ford Escort Mk2 engine in 1977 in my kitchen when i was 18 years old. My dad was a jet propulsion engineer in the RAF and he would show me how to decarbonise the cylinder head, grid the valves by hand.

The Cotswold Tour

This tour is aimed at seeing some of the most beautiful parts of the Cotswold starting at Diddly Squat. It includes Arlington Row at Bibury with its 550 years old miller's cottages and I will explain how it was constructed with stone roofs made by winter weathering. You can imagine how Tolkien was inspired when he first saw it and it became Middle England in Lord of the Rings.

I've refurbished a 400 year old and 600-year-old cottage and can give my personal insight into living in an old cottage. We will then head off to Lower Slaughter and you have an opportunity to take a beautiful short 20 minute walk along the River Eye from Upper Slaughter to Lower Slaughter. We can head to Broadway if we have enough time and maybe also see Broadway Tower, a prime example of an English folly.

We can start and finish in London which is my most popular way to tour to date.

British Motor Museum

The British Motor Museam is at Gaydon about 50 minutes from Diddly Squart. It has a great array of great British cars including my favourite which is the Austin Healey 3000. My preference would be to have it in two tone, cream and sky metallic blue.

British National Motor Museum at Beaulieu

This museam is a two hour drive from Diddy Squat. I first went here when I was a boy and marvelled at the engineering. One car caught my attention and that was Sir Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird which broke the landspeed record in 22 February 1933 at 272 miles per hour. It was enormous compared to my size. The museam is considered one of the best in europe and has a Top Gear section.

You might remember the episode with the Mr Nippy in Top Gear and Ford v Farrari with the GT40. You need at least 3 hours to tour this venue and it's a two hour ride from Diddly Squat

I've been taken clients here for nearly 20 years but I combined Diddy Squat with British National Motor Museum at Beaulieu for the first time last year. Its a long day but you can sleep in the car on the way back home.

Silverstone Museum which is the home of the British Grand Prix

Sverstone is the home of F1 in the UK and there are many constructors located in the area. I do have contacts to visit Red Bull at Milton Keynes but it's around £20,000 which includes Dave Coulthard (DC) and Mark Gallagher. Both well known in the industry. However, the visit to the Silverstone museam wlll set you back £25 each.

Silverstone is 50 minutes from Diddly Squart and the museam had everthing you want to know at F1. The engineering, the drivers and the track. My last time at Silverstone in 2023, we were lucky to arrive on a Friday and see a practise day on the track with some classic racing cars. The interactive enginnering aspect on current F1 technology in the exibition is particulary engaging. You also have the opportunity to try out a F1 simulator.

The Triumph Motorbike Factory Visit

The factory visit is 1hr 15mins away from Diddly Squat but if you are a Triumph enthusiast than this a "must do" tour. I really enjoyed the engineering aspect of the tour and particularly how they match pistons to cylinders and the use of robotics to streamline the process. The whole build quality is so superior compared to their halcyon days. The factory tour guide has an amazing knowledge of motorbikes but also an amazing Triumph Rocket with sidecar, so I've included that in the photos.