“I’m broken,” Clarkson admits as he parts ways with something he never thought he’d lose at Diddly Squat Farm.

Jeremy Clarkson opened up about his farming work at Diddly Squat after admitting that he is “old and broken”.

Jeremy Clarkson confessed to feeling “old and broken” after being forced to give up a favourite piece of farm machinery at Diddly Squat farm.

The former Top Gear host frequently shares updates from his foray into farming – a venture he embarked upon six years ago, which subsequently led to a highly successful Amazon Prime series.

“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 says. “Only mattress testers have an easier, more sedentary life.”

Quipping that he burns “about two calories an hour,” he explains that much of his farming work is done while seated. He’s either behind the wheel of a tractor, or he’s buried in endless paperwork to adhere to Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) regulations.

Among Jeremy’s various pieces of farm machinery, the most exotic is his Supacat – a six-wheel drive, semi-amphibious military vehicle that he used to use to collect wood from the forest.

Supacats were originally engineered to “recover broken Land Rovers from the battlefield”, Jeremy notes, so there’s no doubt about the Devon-made vehicle’s capability to function in demanding conditions. 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.”

It’s for this reason, Jeremy clarifies, that he’s been forced to replace the army surplus vehicle that he acquired for £9,000 a few years ago.

He was very fond of the Supacat, making it a tough act to follow. “It’s useful because it has big, fat, soft tyres. It doesn’t get stuck or damage the earth,” he commented shortly after its purchase.

“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 contemplated was the £44,000 all-electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic Ultimate. However, Jeremy’s main worry is that, being electric, it lacks the audible feedback of a hard-working 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 elaborates.

Instead, Jeremy opted for the petrol-powered CFMoto UForce U10 Pro – which, among other things, is significantly cheaper than its eco-friendly competitor.

Compared to the Supacat, the Chinese-manufactured CFMoto offers more comfort, particularly for a 65 year old body. Two deluxe bench seats accommodate up to six riders, while power windows and an innovative push-button electric shift reduce the need for physical exertion.

Jeremy remarks: “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 sole drawback he’s discovered thus far is just how much of a hit it’s proved with certain members of the Diddly Squat crew: “On day one, my dogs leapt into the pick-up bed and since then have pretty much refused to get out.”