Despite local planners’ opposition, Jeremy Clarkson is finally planning to build his restaurant at Diddly Squat Farm.
The 40-seat Diddly Squat restaurant is now accepting reservations online, and the Amazon Prime star said that this was possible because of a regulatory gap.
Although there is no set menu, customers may pay starting at £49 and will only be fed meat paired with food grown on Clarkson’s 1000-acre farm close to the sleepy Oxfordshire town of Chadlington.
The Sun quotes Clarkson as saying, “We got our planning permit denied, but we’re opening nevertheless.”
‘Everyone at Diddly Squat has spent the last three months becoming an expert in planning regulations and we’ve found a delightful little loophole.
‘We’re going to sell all the stuff we produce on the farm and finally make some profit from the stuff we grow rather than run up losses.’
Now accepting reservations through the website Open Table, Clarkson cautions potential customers that the space is compact.
Before making your reservation, you should be aware that it is a tiny, primarily outdoor, and rather rustic space.
We don’t cater to the trend, so ordering a beer or using the restroom isn’t as simple as it is in your neighborhood bar.
“We’ve tried to keep you warm and dry, but this is England,” someone said. The upsides are that practically everything you consume was produced or raised on our farm, making it fresh and requiring few food miles.
There is no menu “as such,” according to Clarkson, even though Pip Lacey from The Great British Menu oversees the kitchen.
Diners being offered the best produce available that day at £49 per head or a VIP dining experience for £69 per head for a three course meal, according to the Times.
Diners won’t be given an option as to which cut of beef they receive when they are served, according to the 62-year-old.
He said to the Times, “I’ve heard that one cow can feed 1,000 people, and we’ve had one hanging for 29 days.” Others will receive tongue, while others will receive fillet steak.
According to the publication, every dinner must agree to be recorded for Clarkson’s Farm, an Amazon Prime program.
Given that the majority of the dining is outside, diners are encouraged to wear proper clothing because they may get wet.
Each person who has to use the restroom must be led by a tractor or a quad bike.
On Open Table, he added: ‘Our bread, made with Hawkstone lager is absolutely brilliant. We even have a tiny VIP room housed in an old shepherd’s hut.
‘This seat four (just) but it is dry and warmer than outside. We will even serve you a complimentary bottle of English sparkling wine. Don’t scoff. It’s very good.
‘This is a restaurant like no other. Apart from one I went to in Croatia once. And which served me the best lunch I’ve ever had.’
Open Table indicates that the restaurant has at least 30 reservations today with limited openings for this evening.
After local officials rejected his plan to develop a new restaurant and a 70-space parking lot on the grounds of his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat farm, Clarkson claimed he was “extremely” unhappy in January.
In a last-ditch effort to have his ideas approved, Mr. Clarkson personally attended a meeting of the planning subcommittee of the West Oxfordshire District Council that month. However, seven out of 10 councillors voted against the plans.
After the meeting, the Grand Tour presenter declared it to be a horrible day for farmers and called one of the planning officials a comic.
However, he continued to find allies in his neighborhood among individuals who believe that council planners are disdainful of innovative agricultural practices.
At the January council meeting, Mr. Clarkson argued that he was only attempting to “diversify” his company and expressed concern that farmers’ financial situations might prevent them from adequately caring for the environment.
Farmers maintain the beauty of the country by taking care of the fields, streams, hedges, and woods.
Farmers’ financial situation means they won’t be able to continue doing that for very long. As farmers, we have been advised to diversify, and that is exactly what this idea does.
Though councillors at the meeting were split over Mr Clarkson’s proposals, local officials agreed to refuse permission.
They argued that the café would be ‘out of keeping’ with the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.