06/05/2026
Whatever you think of Jeremy Clarkson, something unexpected happened when Clarkson’s Farm hit our screens. Jeremy himself, Kaleb and Gerald somehow made farming genuinely watchable. More than that, they made it cool.
Suddenly, people who’d never given a second thought to rural life were hooked, and the Cotswolds, that beautiful, quietly spectacular corner of England, went from somewhere people vaguely knew about to somewhere they genuinely wanted to visit.
We watched it. We talked about it. And then we went.
What started as a personal trip to see it for ourselves ended up becoming something more. But more on that later.
The series follows Jeremy Clarkson as he runs Diddly Squat Farm in the heart of the Cotswolds countryside.
While much of the action centres around the farm itself, the wider area plays a huge role in the feel of the show. Rolling hills, winding country roads, and traditional stone villages all form part of what makes it so watchable.
It’s not a set. It’s real, and you can visit it.
This is the place most people recognise straight away.
Since the show launched, the farm shop has become a destination in its own right. You’ll find produce from the farm, products featured in the series, and if you time it right, a real sense of the atmosphere you see on screen.
A quick heads up though, it gets busy. Very busy. That in itself says a lot about how much the show has connected with people.
When we visited, we weren’t even sure we’d make it into the queue for the farm shop. We did in the end, but honestly, even if we hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered.
The seating area near the food vans was one of the highlights. We ended up spending far longer there than planned, just soaking up the atmosphere. The food was genuinely good, not an afterthought, but somewhere you could properly sit and enjoy.
We also visited The Farmer’s Dog pub and the large Grand Tour tent, now used for additional farm shopping. Worth knowing: it stocks many of the same products as the main shop, so if the queues are long, it’s a solid alternative.
The brewery was another highlight. The cider was excellent, and there was a burger van outside serving one of the best burgers of the trip.
If you’re planning a visit, build in more time than you think you’ll need. There’s more to explore than just the shop.
The nearest town to the farm is Chipping Norton, and this is where the wider Cotswolds really opens up.
Stone cottages, independent shops, countryside that feels genuinely untouched. It’s the kind of place you don’t rush. You wander, you stop, and you take it in. A completely different pace.
What makes Clarkson’s Farm work isn’t just the story. It’s the setting.
The fields, the changing seasons, and the open countryside give the series a feeling that’s completely different from anything filmed in a city. Watching it, you start to understand why people are drawn to this part of the country in the first place.
And when you’re standing in it, you understand it even more.
If Clarkson’s Farm has put the Cotswolds on your radar, it’s worth knowing the area has a much longer history on screen.
Father Brown, Midsomer Murders, and Downton Abbey have all filmed across the Cotswolds and surrounding countryside. What’s interesting is how the same landscape shifts depending on the story, a working farm in one series, a fictional village in another, a grand estate in something else entirely.
The villages don’t change. On screen, they become completely different worlds.
You can absolutely visit Diddly Squat Farm on your own, and as we found, it’s a great day out.
But what you see is mostly what’s on the surface.
That personal trip we mentioned at the start? It didn’t just give us a great day out. It made us realise how much more there was to the area than most visitors were seeing. The filming stories, the locations hiding in plain sight, the way the same village street becomes something completely different depending on which production is using it.
We came home and built a tour around it. It’s a fully guided mini coach tour, small groups, maximum 16 people, departing from both the Cotswolds and London. We take you to Diddly Squat, the Hawkstone Brewery, The Farmer’s Dog, Gerald’s village, Burford and more, with a guide who knows the story behind every stop.
If you’re already planning a trip to the Cotswolds, it’s well worth seeing a little more than just the obvious spots. You’ll come away with a much fuller picture of the area, and a few stories you wouldn’t have found on your own.
The Cotswolds has always been worth visiting. Clarkson’s Farm just gave a lot of people a reason they hadn’t expected.
It took somewhere already known for its beauty and gave it a personality that feels completely unscripted. A man who didn’t really know how to farm, a team who made rural life genuinely compelling, and a landscape that does most of the work just by existing.
If it’s put the Cotswolds on your list, go. Soak it up. Visit the farm, wander the villages, and see a little more than just the obvious stops.
And if you want to understand what you’re actually looking at, we’d love to show you around.
Where is Clarkson’s Farm filmed? Clarkson’s Farm is filmed at Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.
Can you visit Diddly Squat Farm? Yes, the farm shop is open to visitors, though it gets very busy, particularly at weekends and during school holidays. It’s worth arriving early and allowing time to explore the wider area rather than just the shop itself.
Which town is closest to Clarkson’s Farm? The nearest town is Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.
Is there a guided tour of Clarkson’s Farm locations? Yes. We run a fully guided Clarkson’s Farm Tour by mini coach, departing from both the Cotswolds and London. The tour visits Diddly Squat, the Hawkstone Brewery, The Farmer’s Dog pub, Gerald’s village, Burford and more, with an expert local guide throughout. Groups are kept small with a maximum of 16 people.
What other TV shows have been filmed in the Cotswolds? The Cotswolds has been used as a filming location for Father Brown, Midsomer Murders, Downton Abbey and many others. The area’s villages and countryside have featured in productions across decades.
Written by Danielle from the Brit Movie Tours team. We visited, we fell in love with it, and then we built a tour around it.
