The presenter is never afraid to be candid about his struggles running a farm
Jeremy Clarkson has said that he is ‘broken’ – even as he revealed that farming is ‘ideal for those who don’t like to work up a sweat’. The former Top Gear host regularly shares updates from his farming venture, Diddly Squat, which began six years ago and spawned an Amazon Prime show.
Joking that he burns “about two calories an hour”, he reveals that most of his agricultural work involves sitting down.
“Since I started in the fields six years ago, I’ve realised that farming is ideal for those who don’t like to work up a sweat,” Jeremy explains. “Only mattress testers have an easier, more sedentary life.” Jeremy is usually either behind the wheel of a tractor, or wading through mountains of paperwork to meet Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) requirements, he claims.
The presenter is never afraid to be candid about his struggles running a farm, reports the Mirror. The most unusual piece of kit in Jeremy’s collection is his Supacat – an impressive six-wheel drive, semi-amphibious military machine that he uses to collect timber from the woodland.
Supacats were initially built to “recover broken Land Rovers from the battlefield,” Jeremy says, so the Devon-manufactured vehicle’s capability in tough conditions is beyond doubt. However, there’s a snag.
Writing in the Sunday Times, he adds: “But it is quite difficult to get in and out of if you are old and broken.”
That’s precisely why, Jeremy reveals, he’s intending to replace the ex-military vehicle that he snapped up for £9,000 several years ago. He’s very fond of the Supacat, so it will be hard to replace.
“It’s useful because it has big, fat, soft tyres. It doesn’t get stuck or damage the earth,” he said shortly after buying it. “No matter what the weather’s doing I can fire up the Supacat, attach the trailer using an extremely manly Nato hitch and head off for firewood.”
Among the alternatives he weighed up was the £44,000 all-electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic Ultimate. Yet Jeremy’s main worry with that option is the lack of audible feedback from an electric motor when it’s under strain, unlike a traditional petrol engine.
“You know instinctively when you have applied the correct amount of power because you can hear it. But in an electric vehicle, there is no sound. You press the accelerator and nothing happens,” he explains.
In the end, Jeremy opted for the petrol-powered CFMoto UForce U10 Pro – which, amongst other benefits, comes in considerably cheaper than its environmentally-friendly competitor.
Set against the Supacat, the Chinese-manufactured CFMoto offers significantly more comfort and is kinder to a 65 year old frame. Two premium bench seats accommodate up to six passengers, whilst power windows and a clever push-button electric shift reduce the physical effort needed.
Jeremy says: “It has been on the farm for a couple of months now and I must say it’s very practical, very robust and extremely useful.”
The only downside he’s discovered so far is how much the Diddly Squat team have taken to it: “On day one, my dogs leapt into the pick-up bed and since then have pretty much refused to get out.”
