Jeremy Clarkson has hosted a traffic meet ahead of a major event expected to be attended by more than 20,000 people at his Oxfordshire farm.
The former Top Gear and Grand Tour star owns both a farm and a pub in the west of the county.
Diddly Squat Farm, which he took over in 2008, can be found in Chadlington, while The Farmer’s Dog pub, which he opened in 2024, is in Asthall, near Burford.
These locations feature heavily in the popular Prime Video show Clarkson’s Farm which first debuted in 2021.
On June 10 and June 11, Diddly Squat Farm will host one of the UK’s leading farming festivals, Cereals, which focuses on innovation, technology and sustainability within the arable industry.
The presence of the major event within the local area has prompted some fears from local people about traffic.
Indeed, the festival often attracts more than 20,000 visitors and 350 exhibitors across the two days it is held, with work happening in the weeks before and after.
To assuage their concerns, Mr Clarkson and his Clarkson’s Farm co-star Charlie Ireland joined organisers at Chadlington Village Hall on Tuesday (February 24) to brief local people on the traffic and management plans.
The meeting attracted 60 residents and provided an in-depth look at how the Cereals event, which is exclusively for the farming trade, will be managed to minimise local impact during its three-week build and two-day live window.
Mr Clarkson said: “We are hosting the event, but Cereals are the organisers and they know what they are doing.
“They’ve been doing this in rural communities for years and know how to manage the traffic to make sure the village and surrounding area is relatively undisturbed.
“This is an important event, not just the agriculture sector nationally but for our local farming communities too.
“Farming is an industry that is in deep trouble. I have the honour to trying to put something back into this beleaguered world.”
Mr Ireland added: “A huge amount of planning has gone into managing the traffic and visitors around the event and the traffic management team will be on hand throughout to address any issues quickly if they do arise.”
Among the measures announced, Cereals said they are working with a specialist traffic management company and Oxfordshire County Council to implement a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order.
There will be one-way systems and a temporary 30mph limit will be enforced on surrounding roads.
There will also be dedicated buses for those attending the festival.
Alli McEntyre, event director at Cereals, added: “We understand residents will have concerns about traffic, which is why we have designed a strategy that utilises major A-roads and keeps event traffic away from villages.
“Cereals is a trade-only event for professionals; it is not a public festival, which allows us to predict and control arrival times and vehicle volumes with high precision.”
In response to questions raised by residents, the team said it would be working with local schools to minimise any impact and would make sure public transport and critical support is unaffected by the event.
