Given the multiple-hour wait in queues, traffic jams, and fanfare for Diddly Squat products, Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop has become one of the Cotswolds’ most notable tourist attractions.
However, according to the Grand Tour star’s girlfriend, Lisa Hogan, 64-year-old Clarkson didn’t exactly see the shop’s name in lights before it opened its doors five years ago.
As documented in Amazon Prime Video’s hit series Clarkson’s Farm, Hogan has taken the reins of the Chipping Norton shop in order to flog the produce Clarkson grows and rears on his farm.
It’s been far from plain sailing with planning clashes with the local council, stock shortages, and all manner of objections from land agent Charlie Ireland just a few of the challenges faced.
Diddly Squat Farm Shop is regularly packed with customers
PA
But Diddly Squat farm shop remains open to this day, and Clarkson has even opened a second Diddly Squat store adjacent to his pub near Burford, Oxfordshire.
Discussing her partner’s reservations towards the business venture, however, Hogan told TV chef Prue Leith why she locked horns with Clarkson about opening the farm shop to begin with.
“That programme of yours, you see the real struggles that farmers have and how difficult it is to make money,” Leith said during this past weekend’s episode of her Cotswold Kitchen show on ITV.
The Bake Off star went on: “And I am so impressed by the products you’ve developed for the store. I remember when it first opened, it was basically potatoes.”
Lisa Hogan helps keep things running smoothly at Diddly Squat Farm Shop
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“Potatoes and some water that was poisonous, yeah,” Hogan replied with a laugh. “But I do put my creative side into designing the labels and creating new products.”
Delving into Clarkson’s initial thoughts, Hogan revealed: “I think he thought I’d just sell bread and cheese, and he was like, ‘Oh, you have your little shop’.”
Taking issue with her partner’s attitude, Hogan went on: “And I was like, ‘You watch me! Don’t be so dismissive. My little shop. Oh, right’.”
However, it’ll be no surprise to hear Hogan has won Clarkson over, with the former model telling Leith that he’s now “very impressed” and even “a bit surprised”.
Lisa Hogan joined Prue Leith on her ITV cooking show to discuss life with Jeremy Clarkson
ITV
Elsewhere during their time together, in which they were cooking venison flatbreads on the show, Leith also heaped praise on Clarkson’s Farm as a whole.
“Do you know, one of the best moments I have ever seen on television is of Lisa Hogan playing midwife to a sow giving birth to piglets. And you had your hand up the sow,” Leith teed up.
“Way up… As far as I could get,” Hogan weighed in. “I was very humbled by the fact that she was kind of lying there, and I thought, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve got to go inside you’.
“And she just kind of relaxed because she knew I was trying to help. And you’re like, ‘Thank you so much’. You know, I knew them all quite well anyway because I love going down and seeing the pigs.”
Jeremy Clarkson runs his own farm with the help of Lisa and farm manager, Kaleb Cooper (left)
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Leith replied: “It was the most fantastic moment because it was so emotional, because about half of them were dead. And you were crying, but you were not stopping doing the job.”
“Well, you don’t, do you?” Hogan answered. “I’m not a crier. Jeremy… I don’t think he’d seen me cry. So when my shoulders just started going, and I was like, ‘Oh no. Not now.’ So it was very sad.”
There has been better news when it comes to the Diddly Squat pigs as Hogan revealed to Leith that a recent group of 14 piglets arrived and survived.
And fans don’t have to wait long until they get to see all-new episodes of Clarkson’s Farm, with Amazon confirming season four’s release date earlier this month.
Clarkson and Hogan will reunite with the likes of Kaleb Cooper and Gerald Cooper in the fourth season of the show on May 23.
The fourth series is expected to centre on Clarkson’s decision to buy his own pub in the Cotswolds and the financial burden the venture has on him.
