Jeremy Clarkson plans to save Diddly Squat by selling nettle soup
Jeremy Clarkson unveils ‘brainwave’ plan to save Diddly Squat by selling stinging nettle soup for £5.80 after Amazon Prime star admitted his farm won’t make profits this year due to sky-high fertiliser prices
- He is launching a new soup made from nettles, which are ‘free and delicious’
Jeremy Clarkson has unveiled a plan to start selling nettle soup for £5.80 after admitting his Diddly Squat farm won’t make profits this year due to sky-high fertiliser prices.
The broadcaster told how wheat prices are also plummeting and the weather is ‘bonkers’ – but says he has had a ‘brainwave’ to combat the challenges and secure the financial future of his farm.
Mr Clarkson is launching a new soup made from nettles, which he says do not need to be planted or fertilised, are free and delicious.
The secret recipe was made by a young racing driver who works at the Diddly Squat farm shop and Mr Clarkson says he has had positive reactions from people who have given it a try.
‘Buoyed by the positive reaction, I made a business plan and worked out that I could sell 500ml portions, chilled and packaged, for £5.80,’ he wrote for a piece in The Times.
Mr Clarkson’s hand picked soup which he says is ‘full of goodness’ and will sell for £5.80
Jeremy Clarkson outside his Diddly Squat farm shop in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
‘Which is a bit weird because the main ingredient, apart from the cream, and the potatoes, and the chicken stock, and the butter, cost me nothing at all. How supermarkets can sell their soups for £2 less — when their ingredients have to be farmed — is beyond me.’
Mr Clarkson added: ‘I’m sitting here hoping that my new nettle soup becomes a firm farm shop favourite. Which means, of course, it’ll be a disaster.
‘But if it isn’t, and I really have come up with a way of monetising the plague of nettles that choke the woods every summer, it could open the floodgates, because there’s watercress in there as well, and wild garlic, and crayfish, and mushrooms – and all of these things can be turned into soup.’
In an Instagram post two weeks ago, Mr Clarkson posted a picture of the first batch of his soup and wrote: ‘I’ve really gone and done thing. My hand picked nettle soup is available in the shop today for one day only. Full of goodness.’
Fans of Jeremy Clarkson continue to queue for products at the star’s Diddly Squat farm shop – even though prices are significantly higher than they are for similar items in supermarkets.
Fans of Jeremy Clarkson continue to queue for products at the star’s Diddly Squat farm shop – even though prices are significantly higher than they are for similar items in supermarkets
Read more: So what exactly can you buy at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop?
The Amazon presenter, who is locked in a planning row with council chiefs in Oxfordshire, sells a range of gifts, clothes and locally produced food and drink at his popular store.
The most expensive item is a ‘bundle’, consisting of a chopping board, a tea towel an apron and a bamboo ‘wooden’ spoon, which together sets back punters some £62.
Among Diddly Squat’s cheapest offerings is the chilli chutney, priced at £4.80.
One of the shop’s most popular products, according to its website, is a 200g bag of ground coffee, described as a 100% Arabica blend from Colombia, Kenya and Indonesia ‘with hints of chocolate, spices and honey’.
It retails at a hefty £6.95 while a similar, slightly larger bag can be bought from Aldi for just £1.69.
Other products include a 50cl bottle of Vodka selling at £39 – available elsewhere for a mere £9.38 – and a £16 travel cup, similar to one sold in Tesco for £2.50.
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