Notts farm shop that's as good as Diddly Squat - but you won't have to queue for hours just to get in

IT’S amazing what a celebrity name can do for a business. I bet your bottom dollar Diddly Squat Farm Shop wouldn't be such a draw if it didn’t belong to Jeremy Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan.

- By LYNETTE PINCHESS

Recently, an email landed in my inbox informing me the Cotswolds business had been named the country's top farm shop.

Nottinghamshire’s Welbeck Farm Shop rolled up in fourth place, with rankings based on factors such as TripAdvisor ratings, price ranges, social media followers - and oddly, the chance of rain during your visit.

Thirty farm shops across the county were scored by meal box delivery company Hello Fresh and even though the stats put Jezza's shop in first place, I'd argue Welbeck Farm Shop in north Notts is better.

I visited Diddly Squat in Chipping Norton last year when we were holidaying in the area. Disclaimer - when I say visited, I mean we drove into the car park and straight out again after seeing the queue of people waiting to go inside.

Hot tourist spot or not, I’m not going to wait for hours in the blistering sun for the “experience” of a £15 burger or a £22.50 candle.

The shop, which opened in 2020, is a key part of Diddly Squat Farm, which is featured in the Amazon Prime series Clarkson's Farm.

According to one visitor it can take more than two hours to queue to get into the shop and then there's further queues to get a drink at the bar and food from the burger van.

"If I wasn’t a Top Gear, Clarkson Farm fan I don’t think I would have gone,” he concluded. Another wrote: “Only went to be nosy as in area, would not go again, absolutely ridiculous the amount of cars and people queuing to go in a little shed to buy produce at extortionate prices.”