Jeremy Clarkson: Local council intervene as farm shop reopening sparks queues
Visitors to Diddly Squat Farm Shop parked on the verges of narrow country roads despite a warning from the local council.
Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm Shop has sparked a warning from the local council about traffic congestion in the area.
Queues quickly formed at the shop - featured in Amazon Prime show Clarkson's Farm which has just begun airing its second season - after it reopened on 10 February 2023. And when the car park became full shoppers began leaving their cars on the verges of the approaching country roads.
This was despite Oxford County Council putting out a warning on social media saying: "If you are planning on visiting Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm Shop in Chadlington, please park safely and considerately.
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"Don’t park on the A361. It’s just too dangerous.
"And please avoid parking on the verges of the narrow Chipping Norton Road as it causes damage
"The farm will be doing what it can to deal with the influx of visitors, so please follow signage on the day. But bear in mind the car park is small.
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"If you are directed by staff, whether you are through traffic or visiting the farm shop, please be patient with them – they are trying to keep you safe and allow traffic to flow."
Since the shop was featured in Clarkson's Farm it's popularity has caused ongoing traffic problems on local roads.
In June 2021 the former Top Gear presenter apologised to local residents in Chadlington, the nearby Cotswolds village, for the problems his shop had caused.
He said: "People of Chadlington. I’m truly sorry about the traffic around our farm shop last weekend. We are doing everything we can to improve the situation."
In September 2021 Clarkson served cheese and wine at a meeting he held for his neighbours at the village hall to discuss his plans for a farm restaurant and to assure them he would do everything he could to improve parking at the site.
He revealed at the time that the popularity of the shop had let to visitors urinating in his drive way.
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host told worried locals: "You have my complete sympathy. I am just as keen as you are to try to manage the situation.
"I have people peeing on my drive. Look, I hope that now the school holidays are over and the pandemic is, hopefully, easing, there will be less.”
After being refused planning permission to extend his car park the TV presenter went ahead and opened a steak restaurant on site at the farm in July 2022.
He revealed he had been able to open the "rustic" eatery in a barn thanks to a "cunning little loophole" in planning rules.
The local council shut down the restaurant a month later saying that the parking, toilets, traffic, along with the dining was “visually intrusive and harmful” to the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Amazon Prime was rumoured to have severed tries with Clarkson following comments he made about Meghan Markle in his newspaper column.
Read more: Jeremy Clarkson and Amazon 'set to part ways' after Meghan Markle row
A third series of Clarkson's Farm was commissioned last year and Clarkson told fans of the new season two on Twitter: "It isn’t the last series. Don’t worry."