The Grand Tour presenter has been forced to give up his favourite piece of farm machinery at Diddly Squat farm – and he’s not happy about it
Jeremy Clarkson has admitted to feeling “old and broken” after having to part ways with a beloved piece of equipment at his Diddly Squat farm. The ex-Top Gear presenter regularly posts updates about his farming journey – an endeavour he began six years ago, which later became the foundation for a hugely popular Amazon Prime show.
“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.”
Joking that he burns “about two calories an hour,” he reveals that the majority of his farming duties are carried out whilst sitting down. He’s either operating a tractor, or he’s drowning in never-ending paperwork to comply with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) requirements.
Amongst Jeremy’s collection of farm equipment, the most unusual is his Supacat – a six-wheel drive, semi-amphibious military vehicle that he previously used for collecting wood from the forest, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Supacats were initially designed to “recover broken Land Rovers from the battlefield”, Jeremy points out, so there’s no question about the Devon-manufactured vehicle’s ability to perform in challenging environments. Though, there’s a problem.
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 because of this, Jeremy explains, that he’s had to say goodbye to the army surplus vehicle that he picked up for £9,000 several years back. He had developed quite an attachment to the Supacat, setting a high bar for any replacement.
“It’s useful because it has big, fat, soft tyres. It doesn’t get stuck or damage the earth,” he said shortly after acquiring 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.”
Amongst the options he considered was the £44,000 fully electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic Ultimate. Yet Jeremy’s primary concern centred on its electric nature, which means missing out on the audible cues of a traditional petrol engine at work.
“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.
Instead, Jeremy plumped for the petrol-driven CFMoto UForce U10 Pro – which, amongst other benefits, comes in considerably cheaper than its environmentally friendly rival.
In contrast to the Supacat, the Chinese-built CFMoto delivers enhanced comfort, especially welcome for a 65 year old frame. Two premium bench seats can accommodate as many as six passengers, whilst power windows and a clever push-button electric shift minimise the demand for physical effort.
Jeremy observes: “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 found so far is the unexpected popularity of the vehicle among some members of the Diddly Squat team: “On day one, my dogs leapt into the pick-up bed and since then have pretty much refused to get out.”
