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Louise Thomas
Editor
Jeremy Clarkson has made an unfortunate discovery after buying a Cotswolds pub for £1m.
The Grand Tour star, whose Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm is one of the service’s most-streamed TV shows, made the purchase after finding success with his now-famous, 1000-acre Diddly Squat farm and accompanying shop, which is run by the TV personality’s wife, Lisa Hogan.
Clarkson bought the land in 2008 and, after the villager who ran the farm retired in 2019, he decided to see if he could run it himself. In July, it was revealed the 64-year-old would extend his empire by taking over rural country pub The Windmill in Asthall – a “village boozer” on five acres of countryside near Burford.
However, Clarkson has been open about the fact that the area where the Oxfordshire locale is based is frequented by people who enjoy having sex in semi-secluded public spaces.
In a video shared on Instagram, Clarkson could be seen, outside the pub, holding up a stick with a pair of black and pink knickers dangling off the end. He wrote: “Tell me you bought a pub on a dogging site without telling me you bought a pub on a dogging site.”
Clarkson previously said he was surprised that West Oxfordshire district council approved his plans to transform the “famous dogging site” that is “full of dead rats” into a “fun” village watering hole.
The TV star has predicted the pub will not open its doors until winter due to a commitment to a young couple who are having their wedding reception there this summer, as well as the extensive repairs.
He is also producing a TV series showcasing his efforts to be a pub landlord – much in the same way Clarkson’s Farm shows his travails of running Diddly Squat.
Earlier this year, Clarkson shared behind-the-scenes details of Clarkson’s Farm, revealing how the idea of free-grazing his pigs – a rare breed called Sandy and Black – ended in disaster.
Clarkson had been warned by land agent Charlie Ireland that it wouldn’t be as simple a task as he was thinking, stating: “Pigs need round-the-clock care.”
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The TV star learnt this the hard way when many of the piglets died, with some of them being crushed accidentally by their mothers. In fact, so many piglets died that it left those working on the show feeling distressed.
